My Life in Slugterra 2
by wenjing10
Summary: With the support and guidance from my team of best friends, I continue my journey to become one of the best slugslingers in all of Slugterra. Well, it's not me, but us. As more secrets are discovered and revealed, more challenges await us. We need to stay strong together if we have any chance in defeating more villains and protect Slugterra.
1. The Vision

My Life in Slugterra 2

Summary: With the support and guidance from my team of best friends, I continue my journey to become one of the best slugslingers in all of Slugterra. Well, it's not me, but us. As more secrets are discovered and revealed, more challenges await us. We need to stay strong together if we have any chance in defeating more villains and protect Slugterra.

This is the sequel of My Life in Slugterra. And this chapter starts with Return of the Elementals.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Vision**

It was night in The 99 Caverns. In a cavern, Phosphoro slugs could be seen sleeping upside down on a big mushroom. A campfire was lit up. Red Hook was telling a story to a boy, a girl and a few slugs. He was talking about how the Shane Gang and I defeated Dr. Blakk and sent him to The Deep Caverns. The kids and the slugs were awed by his story.

"Eli, his Shane Gang and Wen Jing thought their battle is over, but the brave heroes barely have time to take a rest!" Red Hook took a deep breath and continued. "Before a new enemy threatens Slugterra – the Goon! A Goon Doc slug that has mind-controlled powers!" The kids and slugs were horrified to hear it!

"And then suddenly... an unexpected Slinger came to the rescue. She challenged the Goon and was able to defeat him. She is a princess and her name is Charrize Antoinette Reyes. But she is called Khai. She is from another set of caverns called... Marinatopia. A mythical and magical cavern that no one knows about its existence." The kids and slugs were amazed again.

"With her assistance, Eli and his Gang defeated their foe, freeing the Dark Slinger from its evil fraud! The Goon lost the slinger, and the Shane Gang gained an ally – Junjie, the mysterious slinger from The Eastern Caverns." The kids and slugs could not help to wonder about the two newcomers.

"And there you have it! One of the latest tales of Slugterra's greatest heroes!" Red Hook concluded his story. He then asked the kids, "So, what do you think, kids? You wanna grow up and become a slugslinger? Yeah?" The kids nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, you gonna need guts! Do you have the guts?" Red Hook energetically questioned them. The kids nodded. "And the drive? The passion for it?" The slugs chirped happily, meaning that it was a yes.

"Well, it's a hard life, but it's exciting! Well, I bet what the Shane Gang are doing something right now, they will make your eyes explode!" Red Hook told them.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Shane Hideout, Eli was sleeping in a hammock. His slugs were watching a Max Jackson movie on the television. Burpy, Joules and Digger were standing on a chair in front of the T.V., while Banger was lying upside down. Doc was lying on a cushion on the floor. Stunts was sitting under the chair. Spinner was sleeping in his hammock that was made of his webs. A box of popcorn could be heard close to Spinner. Eli's slugs were enjoying the movie.

All of the sudden, Eli began to move around and groaned. "No..." he muttered in his sleep.

In his dream, there was a pole shining with green light. The scene zoomed into the green light and a big eye appeared. The scene changed, showing me falling and Junjie yelled my name. Then, an enlarged Goon appeared and emitted his Ghoul Energy. The scene quickly zoomed into the huge eye and Will Shane appeared. "Eli," he called out.

"Dad?" Eli asked.

"You must gather the six together," Will told him after a Shadow Clan was seen. Will showed a symbol of a Shane Star that was surrounded by six different symbols.

The scene quickly changed to show a floor with glowing green patterns. The huge eye in the green light was showed again. A mysterious slug was turned into a ghoul. Eli, Burpy, Khai and Flare were in somewhere, and a clawed hand came out abruptly out of Dark Water!

Eli screamed and woke up! His slugs were startled by his scream. Burpy hopped towards Eli and the other slugs chirped, asking Eli whether he's okay.

"It's okay, guys. It's just a dream. I'm fine," Eli assured them. Burpy hopped into his left shoulder and Eli walked away.

Eli passed by the garage and saw Junjie and his slugs were doing Slug Fu. Eli leaned against the door while seeing them doing it quietly. He did not want to disturb.

"Couldn't sleep either, Eli?" Junjie asked while he was doing Slug Fu with his eyes close. Eli and Burpy were taken by surprise that Junjie knew about their presence even though he didn't see them.

"Uh... no? The T.V. here, it's a bit loud," Eli lied.

"I dreamed of fire and destruction," Junjie described his dream while doing Slug Fu, "the caverns in chaos under the shadow of the Goon, and a monstrous claw..."

"A claw?!" Eli gasped. "I have the same dream!"

"I feel it is more of a premonition than a dream," Junjie said. He bowed to his slugs and they did the same to him. Their Slug Fu practice had finished.

* * *

Meanwhile, in my house, I had a very strange dream. I saw myself with the Shane Gang. Will Shane appeared and told Eli to "gather the six". Then I saw a mysterious slug being turned into a ghoul. The scene changed to show Eli, Burpy, Khai and Flare somewhere. A clawed hand came out abruptly out of Dark Water! They screamed! The scene quickly changed again. I was falling down. "Wen Jing!" Junjie yelled my name.

I screamed as I woke up immediately. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Wen Jing, are you alright?" a voice called out outside my room. It was Khai.

I unlocked the door and let her in. "Uh, yeah... why you ask?" I replied.

"I hear you screamed," Khai answered. "Is everything alright?"

"Well... I have a nightmare..." I explained.

"You too? I have a nightmare too," Khai said, which shocked me.

"What is it about?" I asked her.

"Well... slugs were ghouled... gather the six... a terrible claw... and you were falling..." Khai described her nightmare. "I gasped and woke up when I saw you falling."

"Wait... I had the same dream as you!" I exclaimed.

"I feel frighten and I am worry that Slugterra will be in grave danger soon," Khai said.

"Me too..." I agreed. "What time is it now?"

Khai took a glance at my clock. "4 o'clock in the morning," she answered.

I sighed. "Guess we won't be able to sleep since we had a strange dream," I blurted out.

"Yeah..." Khai agreed with me.

* * *

Morning finally came. Khai and I went to visit the Shane Gang at the Shane Hideout. Ha-Chan came along too, including Fairy, Khai's Nymphia pet. Ha-Chan was still in her child form. Once we got there, we saw Eli and Junjie were having a friendly duel. Ying, Junjie's pet, watched them. Eli and Junjie bowed down to each other.

Junjie activated his wrist blasters. He commanded his slugs using Cantonese, which he meant "get ready" and "start". His slugs showed off their moves, which surprised Eli and Burpy. He then threw five slug tubes into the air. His slugs jumped upwards and went into the tubes. With his eyes closed, Junjie caught all of the slug tubes!

"Excellent! Should we commence?" Junjie questioned.

Eli and Burpy looked at each other and then down. Banger and Rookie were still sleeping while standing. Spinner was still sleeping in his hammock that attached Banger and Rookie. Joules looked like he just woken up.

Eli and Burpy looked back at Junjie. "In a minute," Eli said and Burpy smiled sheepishly.

Eli turned to his slugs. "Rise and shine, guys!" he announced. Joules turned to him, fully awake. Banger, Rookie and Spinner were still sleeping.

Burpy hopped off of Eli's shoulders and turned to Banger. He was frustrated to see him still sleeping. Burpy screamed and Banger woke up suddenly! The hammock stopped swinging abruptly and Spinner was startled by the sudden jerk. He woke up and fell down from his hammock. Burpy shook his head.

Rookie was the only one who had not waken up. Joules shot out a bolt of electricity and shocked Rookie to wake up! Other slugs laughed at Rookie. "Haha, good one, Joules!" Eli chuckled. Joules laughed at Rookie. Rookie blew a raspberry at the Tazerling.

Eli faced Junjie again. The Slug Fu Master was unimpressed by Eli's lack of discipline with his slugs. He raised an eyebrow at the Shane. Eli chuckled nervously.

"Okay, tighten up, guys!" Eli commanded his slugs.

Rookie and Joules stared at each other but quickly laughed it off. Eli's slugs got into position. "Let's do this," Eli told them softly.

Spinner and Banger hopped onto Burpy's head. Rookie jumped onto Spinner's head while Joules jumped onto Banger's head. They all jumped towards Eli. Joules, Rookie and Spinner entered the three slug tubes on Eli's bandolier. Banger entered the slug tube held by Eli and he loaded his Armashelt into his blaster. Burpy landed on Eli's shoulder.

"Now we're ready!" Eli announced as he activated his blaster. Junjie nodded with a smile.

"Bring it!" Eli shouted and fired Banger. The Armashelt transformed and was charging towards Junjie.

Junjie shot his Frostcrawler. It became a yeti-like creature when it reached velocity. It speedily froze Banger and trapped him in an ice cube. Junjie proceeded to use Slug Fu on his Frostcrawler. He raised his arms and his Frostcrawler took a turn. It sent out an icy breath towards Eli.

Eli gasped and tried to outrun it but to no avail. The Frostcrawler carried Eli! It continued to fly and let out its icy breath. Junjie lowered his arms and spread them out. The Frostcrawler responded and stopped the icy breath. It turned into its protoform. Eli fell and slid down from the ice slide created by it. The slug then landed on Eli's chest. Eli kept sliding on the ice until he stopped in front of Junjie.

"Hey," Eli said matter-of-factually. Junjie's Frostcrawler chirped in joy.

"Thank you for the invigorating duel," Junjie thanked him as he retrieved his Frostcrawler.

"Hi, Eli! Hi, Junjie!" Ha-Chan greeted them as she rushed towards them. Khai, Fairy and I followed her.

"Hi, Ha-Chan! Nice to see you all!" Eli greeted back. Junjie smiled as he helped Eli up.

"Hi, Ying!" Ha-Chan greeted Junjie's pet. Ying smiled and nodded.

"Nice to see you too," Khai greeted.

"Yeah~ And Junjie, you are amazing back there~" I complimented him.

"Thank you~" Junjie thanked me.

"Oh, he is~ She loves his Slug Fu~" Eli teased.

"She is just impressed by Junjie's Slug Fu," Khai told the Shane off.

Ying, on the other hand, just smiled as she read my mind.

"So... you've finally seen better after being under the Goon's control?" Eli asked Junjie and chuckled.

"Yes, and I am eager to use all of my abilities to repay you all for freeing me from the Goon's captivity," Junjie replied as he and Joo-Joo bowed down to us.

"I still don't get how you can control your slugs with that... Slug Fu stuff," Eli blurted out and stared at Burpy.

"Well, I have done nothing but practice since I was a child," Junjie explained.

Suddenly, a shot was heard. "Slug fired! That was a Rammstone!" Junjie exclaimed.

"Nah, it's cool. Follow me," Eli assured him and walked towards the vegetation of Wild Spores Cavern. We followed him.

"You can tell what sort of slugs slung just by the sound? Wow," Eli said to Junjie while we were walking.

* * *

While at the vegetation of Wild Spores Cavern, Kord and Pronto were playing a game that involved in racing their slugs around the vegetation of the cavern using remote control cars with the helmets on the slug's heads. Trixie and Roza were reading something on Trixie's tablet. John, Yamu, Zak, Nate and Falcon were watching them. Thunderoar was scratching his left ear using his left leg back hind.

"Come on, Bludgeon!" Kord cheered.

The cars that Stinky and Bludgeon were in hit each other. Bludgeon's car hit Stinky's car forcefully, causing Stinky to go out of control. Pronto managed to control Stinky's car just in time before he fell.

"Oh, so, you want to play dirty, huh?" Pronto asked Kord. He was determined to avenge Kord. He made Stinky's car to collide with Bludgeon's car three times. Bludgeon's car eventually went out of control after the third hit. Kord's Rammstone went towards a tree and slammed onto it! A second or two later, an airbag popped out! Bludgeon was dazed.

Pronto cheered as Stinky took the lead. Kord went over to his Rammstone, who was dazed due to the impact. "You can still win this, buddy," Kord said to Bludgeon. His Rammstone chuckled shyly. Kord loaded Bludgeon into his car and into Kord's blaster. Kord fired him and Bludgeon continued racing.

"Hi, everyone!" Ha-Chan greeted them. They greeted back. Kord and Pronto were too busy playing to greet back.

Junjie walked over to see them playing. "What... is... this?" Junjie asked Kord.

"Protoformula One Racing," Kord answered while playing.

"I... do not understand," Junjie replied.

"It's awesome. The slugs wear helmets to receive signals from the blasters," Eli explained.

In the race, Stinky's car went in front of Bludgeon's car. Pronto's Flatulorhinkus let out a disgusting gas in front of Bludgeon's face!

"Eat my stank!" Pronto cheered. Kord grunted in frustration.

"My half-younger brother is good in racing. He won a lot in the Slug Race Contest. And he has many medals in his room. There are many photos of him after he won the Slug Race Contest!" Khai said.

"Really?" Kord and Pronto were surprised. "We want a challenge with your half-brother!"

Khai chuckled. "Sure. Once you two meet him in Marinatopia," she responded.

"Forgive me, I understand _what_ you are doing, but what I do not understand is... _why_ ," Junjie said to Eli.

"Why what?" Eli asked.

"Why would one play a game for... fun?" Junjie was puzzled. "Which will take away time for training?"

"Uh, wait. You never played a game? Even as a kid?" Trixie asked the Eastern Champion. She found it surprising.

"I was born to be my cavern's greatest protector, and it is an honor with many benefits," Junjie explained proudly. "One being that I do not need modified blasters and technology to control my slugs."

Junjie took his Tazerling and loaded it into his right wrist blaster. He slung it and his Tazerling quickly traveled the space between Bludgeon and Stinky, shocking the two slugs.

Pronto gave Kord a facial signal. Kord immediately understood it. They pushed the triggers on their blasters. The cars of Bludgeon and Stinky moved backwards in opposite directions. Their cars then traveled back to Junjie's Tazerling. They were going to ram it!

However, Junjie, using Slug Fu, commanded his Tazerling to jump! Bludgeon and Stinky missed their target and instead, rammed into each other! They groaned as their cars spun out of course and control.

Junjie's Tazerling landed on the ground and chuckled. It crossed the finish line and a few slugs were cheering.

"Hey! But that... that is cheating!" Pronto protested.

Junjie's Tazerling returned back to his owner. "Forgive me, Pronto. Allow me to undertake the maintenance of your mecha-beast for the next week," Junjie apologized and offered a way to amend his wrongdoings.

"Oh, no, no, no, I insist. Make it two weeks!" Pronto replied.

Khai was very surprised when her shooting star and moon crescent pendant suddenly reacted and glowed, which was the sign of danger. All of the sudden, Xiangmao, my Flatulorhinkus, began to twitch and acting strangely. I wondered why he was acting like that. Suddenly, a flash of red and he was turned into a ghoul!

"Xiangmao! What has happened to you?!" I shouted, shocked to see that he was now a Flatulo Rex.

Kord's Hoverbug, who was in his bandolier, also turned into a ghoul! "Something is ghouling our slugs!" Kord shouted.

I also found my Tormato, Taifeng was ghouled too! Besides Taifeng, my Slyren and Gazzer, Huangli and Dandan suffered the same fate as the Hoverbugs around the cavern! However, Bluster, Stinky and Beat remained normal. The slugs of Khai, Yamu and Zak were totally fine.

"Cure 'em, Doc!" Eli told Doc as he loaded him into his blaster. He shot Doc and it emitted a healing wave on Xiangmao, turning him back to normal. I sighed in relief, but it was short-lived. Xiangmao turned back into a ghoul a few seconds later.

"It didn't work!" Trixie said.

"Wait, if the bunch of slugs here turned ghoul, then what about those down in..." Eli realized and we rushed to the Shane Hideout. "...the clubhouse!"

We were shocked to see all of the Air and Toxic slugs were ghouled! The ghouls were causing chaos! "This is bad. This is real bad!" Eli exclaimed and shot Doc again. Doc used his healing wave to cure a Tempesto into a Tormato. However, the results remained the same. It quickly turned back into a ghoul.

"It's still not working! What's going on?" Eli was confused.

"Everyone, I receive some distress calls from Wind-Farm Cavern," Roza announced. "I will send it to the computer."

The distress calls were immediately sent to the computer. Eli and Trixie looked at it. "Wind-Farm Cavern is overrun!" Eli exclaimed.

"That place's particularly run by Hoverbugs and Tormatos!" Trixie added.

"That's any good place to start figuring this out," Eli said. "Let's settle up!"

* * *

The garage door opened and the Shane Gang hopped onto their mecha-beasts. Roza activated her thruster boots. Falcon transformed into a falcon. Khai and I went to our mecha-beasts that were outside the garage. We started the engines.

"Let's go!" Eli said and we drove off. Roza, Ha-Chan and Falcon followed us by flying. Fairy, Ying and Thunderoar joined us too.

"At least today won't get any crazier," Kord blurted out.

We gasped and stopped our vehicles. Flashes of black appeared in front of us. Suddenly, Shadow Clans appeared!

"The Shadow Clan!" Trixie exclaimed.

The Shadow Clan Leader spoke and Eli put on his Shadow Talker.

"I... uh... didn't quite catch that," Pronto said.

"He says we need to go, _now_ ," Junjie translated, "to a Shadow Clan Village near..."

"Xanadu Basin," Khai cut in.

"You two speak Shadow Clan?" Kord asked and then he face palmed himself. "Of course you two speak Shadow Clan." It turned out that he had forgotten that they spoke the language for a while.

"Xanadu Basin? It will take us days to get there our mecha!" Trixie said.

"We can't go," Eli told the Shadow Clan Leader, "almost all of our air slugs were ghouled and we need to head to Wind-Farm Cavern so..."

" _No, once you hear the message, I think it will change your mind,"_ the Shadow Clan Leader cut in.

"Message? What message?" Eli got interested.

" _The message... from your father..."_ he answered. Eli's eyes went wide in surprise.

He spoke something to Eli again. Eli's friends did not understand him, aside Khai and Junjie.

"What? My father said that?" Eli questioned in surprise.

" _We have little time. You must come with us now!"_ he told Eli.

"Let's go, Shane Gang!" Eli shouted. "Junjie? Khai? You two in?" he asked them.

"It will be my honor to accompany you," Junjie replied.

"I'm with you, Eli," Khai said.

Eli turned to the Shadow Clan Leader. "So... how do we get there?" he asked him.

The Shadow Clan Leader took out a Shadow Walker and threw it upwards. It emitted a green flash that blinded us for a while. It seemed to have open a portal. Our mechas began to lift up. Roza, Falcon, Ha-Chan, Fairy, Ying and Thunderoar were lifted up too. He spoke something.

"What did he say?" Trixie asked concernedly.

"He said..." Eli started.

"This is going to..." Junjie continued.

"...hurt," Khai finished the sentence.

"Oh, Floppers," Pronto moaned.

A few seconds later, we were sucked into the portal. We entered a green vortex and were forced into a dizzy ride! We screamed as we were spinning around! "Best. Day. Ever!" Kord cheered.

"Woohoo! This is awesome!" Khai cheered. The ride reminded her a roller-coaster. Our slugs in our bandoliers were also enjoying the ride.

* * *

At the Shadow Clan Village near Xanadu Basin, a wild Fandango was eating a leaf. It was startled by the arrival of the Shadow Clans. The Shadow Clan Leader threw the Shadow Walker up into the air and opened a portal for the exit. We fell out of the exit and landed hard. We were dizzy as we were lying on the ground, groaning.

"In... my... brain..." Kord groaned as he was dazed.

"Ugh, my stomach is inside out..." Trixie complained.

"Uh... I have swallowed my brains... and my stomach is not digesting that well... uh oh," Pronto threw up in front of the Shadow Clans! They were disgusted by it, including the slugs.

"Excuse me," he apologized after that.

Eli groaned as he stood up. "You okay?" he questioned Junjie.

"I will be in a moment," Junjie responded and stood up. "No amount of training can prepare one for that. And... forgive my earlier shrieking." He avoided his sight, feeling embarrassed.

"You are so cute when you shriek," I told him, which made him blush. I blushed lightly too after realizing what I said.

"Ha-Chan is very dizzy..." Ha-Chan groaned as she had a headache after the dizzy ride. Trixie helped her to make her feel better.

"Man... that was a cool ride! I wanna do it again!" Yamu cheered.

"No way! I don't wanna ride it anymore!" Zak denied. John and Nate nodded as they agreed with him.

Falcon was still in his falcon form as he was lying on the ground. Then, he recovered his dizziness and returned back to his human form, much to the Shadow Clans' surprise.

We slowly stood up as we recovered from the dizziness. Roza stood up too, but her head was turned backwards. We screamed in terror and shock! The Shadow Clans had their eyes wide open!

Roza turned her head back to the right position. "Sorry for making all of you shock and freak out," she apologized.

"You were like an owl since you can turn your head," I said.

"What is an owl?" Roza asked me.

"It is a predator bird. It can rotate its head," I explained.

Roza searched about it and she quickly understood about owls. "Oh, I have searched for it. Thank you," she replied.

"You're welcome," I replied.

The Shadow Clans spoke to us, getting our attention. "Slugs are turning into ghouls all through the caverns! So, what about my father's message?" Eli asked them.

The Shadow Clan Leader showed Eli a Fandango in his palm. The energy slug landed on the ground and emitted its slug energy. The patterns on the ground slowly glowed green. We went backwards slowly, amazed. We found the ground had a huge glowing circle with Shadow Clan patterns.

A large statue came out of the center of the circle. It opened and a pillar came out of it. All of the Shadow Clans had a Fandango and they lifted the slugs up to the air. The top of the pillar shone with a blinding white light. An eye appeared in the light, then another.

When the light died down, an Enigmo slug came out of it! It stepped onto the tip of the pillar. It lost its balance and fell down. Fortunately, it recovered from the fall fast.

"A slug," Pronto blurted out. The Enigmo slug chirped at Pronto, like it was saying hi to him. "That's it?!"

Eli bent his knee down and took a closer look at the slug. "It's an Enigmo slug!" Eli said.

Mo, Eli's Enigmo came out of his backpack and hopped onto Eli's shoulder. He was surprised to see another Enigmo slug.

"I thought we have the only one," Trixie said.

"Besides Khai," I corrected her. Emily, Khai's Enigmo slug, came out of Khai's Magical Belt Bag and hopped onto her shoulders.

Upon seeing the other Enigmo, Mo became entranced in its beauty. He showed off, which caught her heart. They ran off to meet each other. They were in love! We watched in adoration.

"Aww, so adorable!" Trixie complimented.

"Very cute~" Khai added.

"I'm cuter," Pronto claimed as he got jealous.

The two Enigmo slugs accidentally hit each other. The Shadow Clan Leader picked up the female Enigmo.

"An Enigmo slug messes up your vision and make you see stuff," Trixie explained.

"So why would my dad leave one for us?" Eli questioned the Shadow Clan Leader.

The Shadow Clan Leader spoke to him. "Over there? Okay," Eli replied and moved at a distance.

"Alright, now what?" Eli asked.

The Shadow Clan Leader lifted the female Enigmo. He was prepared to shoot her to Eli.

"Oh, Floppers," Eli moaned.

The Shadow Clan Leader threw the Enigmo slug with his tail. The slug reached velocity and hit Eli! A blinding white light was produced from the impact and surrounded us.

" _We will leave you to the message, and trust that it holds answer to our problems. Now, we must go, and do what we can to attend to the ghouls that plague the caverns of swear,"_ the Shadow Clan Leader told Eli and left.

"Wait, aren't you-" Eli was about to say something to the Shadow Clan when a sound caught his attention. An image of Will Shane appeared in front of us.

Burpy smiled. "Dad?" Eli was shocked.

"Eli... I hate to tell you this but that is not your father. It is... a hologram," Pronto explained.

"Oooohhhh... thanks, Pronto," Eli thanked him. Burpy rolled his eyes.

"Anytime," Pronto replied and winked.

"Eli, I recorded this message in the hopes you would never hear it. By now, you are The Shane, and I am no longer here for you," the hologram of Will Shane said to Eli. "I imagined we have some amazing adventures together, and I am sure that you have made me proud of the man you have become." Eli and Burpy grew sad. "By now, I have taught you about all the different slugs that exist in The 99 Caverns."

"I wish you had," Eli blurted out.

"But there weren't so many kinds of slugs," he said and something formed in his palm. He then raised the symbol to the air. "Long ago, there were only the six."

The symbol was a Shane Star. Five symbols, which were the symbols of earth, air, energy, water and fire, appeared in each ending of the Shane Star. The sixth symbol, which was a six pointed star, was at the center of the Shane Star. "Earth, Air, Energy, Water, Fire and Quintessence," Will listed it down.

"Quintessence?" Khai was surprised that he mentioned that word because it was part of the Elements of Harmony.

"Every slug that exists came from these six Elementals. If anything were to happen to an Elemental, something terrible will happen to the slugs related to it," Hologram Will told us.

He showed us an example using the symbol of the Earth Elemental. The Earth symbol was surrounded by the pictures of the descendants of the Earth Elemental Slug: Armashelt, Rammstone, Arachnet, Thresher, Polero, Dirt Urchin, Crystalyd and Neotox. They were the Earth, Metal and Plant Element Slugs. Then, the Earth Elemental Symbol turned red, meaning that it was turned into a ghoul. The pictures of the slug's descendants were changed into their ghoul counterparts.

"It has to be what happened to Taifeng and the others," I stated.

"The Air Elemental must have been corrupted somehow," Trixie said worriedly.

"If you are seeing this message, something terrible has already occurred. Together, the six Elementals have incredible power, that's why they had been scattered across The 99 Caverns. You must gather the six together, only that will cure the damage that has been done. I'm sorry I can't be there to help you, son," Hologram Will said.

"Dad, I-" Eli was about to speak.

"This map will lead you to where the six were hidden," Hologram Will showed us the map. "And this map, as well as this recording of me, are stored within this Enigmo Slug." He showed the Enigmo Slug that the Shadow Clan fired to Eli.

Mo affectionately nudged the female Enigmo, showing that Will was talking about her.

"Sorry, but, someone will have to slug you every time you want to use it," he apologized. Pronto got frustrated by the fact.

"Son, there is one more information I have to tell you about the Quintessence Elemental," he said to Eli.

"What is it?" Eli asked.

"If anything were to happen to the Quintessence Elemental... all slugs will be corrupted along with the five Elementals," he added, which shocked us.

"Hmm... the Quintessence Elemental seems to be the most important of them all," I blurted out.

"It seems that the Quintessence Elemental is the most powerful Slug compared to the five," Khai blurted out.

"It needs to be protected at all costs," I added. Khai nodded to me in agreement.

"Also, there is one more information I have to tell you, son," he said to Eli.

"What is it, dad?" Eli asked again.

"I need to say something to the Protector of Marinatopia. I have left her a message," he replied.

Khai was surprised to hear that, along with us.

"Khai... it has been a long time since I last saw you when you were a child. I know you're wondering where and why I disappeared, causing Team WFRG to disband. I know you missed me a lot since you take the liking on me as if I am your father. I can tell that you already have grown up and you are very much like your mother. However, you still have your real father's dark brown eyes and thick black hair. I know you are searching for him and wonder why he left my team. He is a very mysterious man. But I have to tell you something very important. Do you still remember the story about your ancestors? Your ancestors are connected to the Elementals. The Elementals had befriended with them every generation. However, they hid the Elementals for safety due to their enemies, who were seeking the Elementals. Khai, you are the only one who can control the Elementals. The Elementals might immediately bond you due to your striking resemblances of your twin ancestors. I most warn you, Khai: protect Flare at any cost and stay close to Eli and his team. Good luck, my little princess," Hologram Will told Khai.

"Only you can access the map, Eli, by supplying answers to the questions you and I share," Hologram Will explained to Eli. "Just say "Locate Earth Elemental", and I will ask you a password question. Good luck, son." The hologram faded away.

"Dad! Wait!" Eli called out.

"Ugh..." Pronto sighed. "Eli, for the last time, that was not your father, it was a mere hologram, okay?" Pronto explained again to The Shane.

In Pronto's bandolier, Stinky, a Bubbaleone and a Frostcrawler were in the slug tubes. Suddenly, his Bubbaleone and Frostcrawler turned into ghouls! Pronto screamed!

"Not again!" Pronto shouted.

Eli's AquaBeek, Beeker, who was in Eli's bandolier, turned into an Aquafreak! "Beeker, no!" Eli yelped.

"It's happening to our water slugs!" Kord stated when he noticed his Jellyish being turned into a Jollyfist.

"And ice slugs!" John added as his Frostcrawler was turned into a Frostfang!

However, Glace and Chiller, despite being Ice Element Slugs, were not affected, including the slugs of Khai, Yamu and Zak. The ghouled water and ice element slugs escaped from our bandoliers and ran off.

"Whatever befell the Air Elemental must be happening to the Water Elemental," Junjie explained. "We must hurry to the location and stop this corruption before it spreads further."

"Agree. We gonna fix this, and get our slugs back to normal," Eli agreed.

"Yes. We have to find the Water Elemental first," Khai stated.

"The map is due to you, Eli. Can you find the cavern?" Trixie asked him.

"Yeah. I can find it," Eli replied and turned to the screen of the map. "Locate Water Elemental," he said as he pressed the map.

The hologram of Will Shane appeared again. "You and I used to love racing down the hill during winters of the cabin. What was the name of our sled?" he questioned Eli.

"Oh boy... Poppy Pants," Eli answered in an amusing way. Burpy laughed at him. "My sled was named... Poppy Pants."

Kord, Trixie, John, Falcon and Nate found it amusing as well. Pronto, Yamu and Zak were giggling. "Poppy pants," Pronto laughed breathlessly.

"Hahaha! That's the funniest name I have ever heard," Khai said it with a smile. Ha-Chan laughed when she heard that.

"...What does that means...?" Junjie and Roza were confused.

"You two don't need to know that," I said.

"...Okay," they replied.

"Access granted," Hologram Will replied. "Location..." A picture of a cavern popped out of the screen.

"Undertow Cavern!" Eli and Will said at the same time.

"That's real close! Settle up!" Eli told us.


	2. Head to Undertow

**Chapter 2: Head to Undertow**

We all headed to Undertow Cavern to find the Water Elemental. While on our way there, Eli suddenly had a question. "Khai, why my father leave a message for you?" he asked her.

"Will was like my father to me and... I kinda missed him since I last saw him as a child," Khai told him. The Shane was very stunned.

"So who is your real father that Will mentioned?" Kord asked.

Khai went silent for a moment. "I never met my father before. I only barely remember him since I was four before my Slug Fu training," she answered.

"Why your father left Will's team?" Trixie questioned. Khai could not reply her answer.

John noticed the sad expression on her face. "Trixie, that's enough questions about her father," he said to her.

"Yes. We need to focus on finding the Water Elemental," Nate added. We all agreed.

Then, we finally arrived at Undertow Cavern. Though... Undertow Cavern looked like it had been ghouled. The rocks and plants were thorny and black. The sea water was as red as blood.

"What has happened to this place?!" Pronto exclaimed.

"If I were to guess, ghouling the Elementals is wrecking havoc of the slug energy of the cavern," Eli guessed.

All of the sudden, some ghoul slugs were fired at us! Kord and John were knocked off from their mechas.

"Eli! Darkbane!" Trixie warned as she loaded her blaster.

Our gaze turned to the armoured Darkbanes with their blasters, along with a Ghoulish Slinger, who was in front of the Darkbanes.

"Oh, Floppers," Pronto sighed.

Eli hopped out of his mecha. "This is not good. Why are these guys doing here?" Eli wondered.

"They are here to obey my commands," the Ghoulish Slinger said and that's when a familiar Goon Doc appeared on his right shoulder.

"The Goon?!" Kord and Pronto were shocked.

"The Goon has found a new host slinger!" Eli shouted.

"And he is working with the Darkbane?" Kord added.

The Ghoulish Slinger chuckled evilly. "Goon is gotta be the one who took the Elementals," Roza guessed.

"I do not know what those monsters are, but you I know all too well!" Junjie said as he activated his right wrist blaster. He was angry towards the Goon. Ying angrily growled at the Goon for mind-controlling her master.

"And I know you better, little protector~ I've lived inside your mind~" The Goon mocked him.

"And for that you will PAY!" Junjie yelled furiously as he loaded his Infurnus into his wrist blaster. "Vengeance, Joo-Joo!"

He shot him and Joo-Joo transformed. "Yeah! Make them, Burpy!" Eli did the same and he shot Burpy.

Their Infurnus Slugs headed towards The Goon and the Darkbanes. The Goon shot a Ghouled Tormato Slug and it reached velocity. It grabbed both of them and spun with them, creating a tornado. Burpy and Joo-Joo were tossed out of the tornado and landed on the ground, dizzying and were easily defeated.

"You fools are too late! We already ghouled the Air Elemental as well as the Water Elemental!" The Goon showed us the Ghouled Air Elemental in a red slug tube. "When my associate returns with it, we will acquire the remaining four!"

Pronto was confused. "Okay, nobody told me that was going to be math!" he protested.

Then, the Goon spotted Khai. "Well, hello again, little girl. I see you are helping with your allies. There's no need to introduce yourself... I already know who you really are. You are Charrize Antoinette Reyes... or shall I call you... Princess Khai?" The Goon said in a mocking tone as he smiled evilly at her. Khai was completely shocked that he found out her identity as the Princess of Marinatopia!

"When I tried to mind-control you, I did read some information from your mind... about yourself and your cavern..." The Goon explained. Now Khai feared that he really found out about her and her cavern.

"And I command them to attack!" The Goon ordered the Darkbanes to fire and they shot ghoul slugs at us! I pushed Khai down just as a ghoul slug almost hit her. We started firing our slugs.

Fairy used _Moonblast_ as a pink sphere formed in front of her mouth and she fired it towards the Goon and the Darkbanes. Fairy's attack hit the ground and caused an explosion, forming dusts in front of the Goon and the Darkbanes. Ha-Chan cheered to Fairy that she did a great attack to the Goon and the Darkbanes. When the cloud of dusts cleared, the Goon seemed to be alright, while some of the Darkbanes were knocked out cold after Fairy fired her attack. Then, our enemies fired their ghoul slugs at us again.

"Eli, we will try to retrieve the Air Elemental. You need to find and recover the Water," Junjie told Eli.

"Only problem, the map says the Elemental is on that island, and there's a lot of Darkbane between the sea and us," Eli explained.

"We can handle these guys, Eli. Go!" Trixie convinced him and slung her slug.

Khai made an idea. She loaded her Mega Morphed Crystalyd, Drill and fired him. He reached velocity and made a hole, creating a tunnel in order to get to the other side.

"Great thinking Khai!" Eli praised her. He ran towards the hole and jumped down into it, while Khai followed him behind.

"Up to us to hold the fort," Nate said. Pronto, on the other hand, boasted about himself defeating the Goon, but was the first to be defeated by him. We tried to hold on the Goon and the Darkbanes, and trying to get the Air Elemental.

From the other side, Drill finally made the exit of the tunnel and returned to his protoform. Eli and Khai came out of the hole. Drill entered back her Magical Belt Bag. She and Eli saw the whole sea of Undertow Cavern was Dark Water.

"There is no way we're swimming across all that Dark Water," Eli said. Burpy agreed with him by shaking his head.

"Can you go updraft?" Eli asked his Infurnus and he nodded. He and Khai loaded Burpy and Flare, and shot them into the air. They transformed with orange fire and then transformed again, changing their flames into blue. They rode on their Infurnus Slugs and flew towards the island.

Back with us, we continued to slug it out against the Goon and the Darkbanes. During the duel, Kord ran out of slugs. "Uh, I'm out. Junjie, toss me your Hop Rock!" he called him.

Junjie tossed his Hop Rock to Kord and the Cave Troll loaded it into his blaster. He shot the Hop Rock towards the Goon but he dodged it, much to Kord's surprise and shock.

"What? That was a piece of cake shot! The Goon was lined up!" Kord defended.

"You did not guide the slug," Junjie told Kord. "With proper use of Slug Fu..."

"DOES IT LOOK I KNOW SLUG FU?!" Kord yelled at him in frustration. His voice echoed throughout Undertow Cavern.

"Your little trick didn't help save your caverns, Junjie, and they won't help you here!" The Goon mocked Junjie.

"Hey! Quit it with your mouth, Goon!" I shouted at him angrily for mocking about his Slug Fu.

"And you, Eli, I will crush your cavern too, after I twisted your precious Elementals to my will. And Khai will be under my control. You know this is true. You've seen it!" The Goon then mocked Eli. That's when he noticed that Eli and Khai were not there with us. "Wait, where are they?"

Back with Eli and Khai, they were flying across the sea of Dark Water on Burpy and Flare. "I think we should go in there," Eli suggested.

They entered the island. "Keep your eyes peeled for the Goon's associate. We will have to take him down to get the Water Elemental," Eli stated.

Eli and Khai jumped off from Burpy and Flare, and landed safety on the ground. Burpy and Flare returned to them as they turned back to their protoforms and landed on their shoulders. They looked around the island.

"This place... It seems... familiar," Eli said and his last word echoed throughout the island.

"Me too... from dreams," Khai agreed.

Suddenly, they heard a roar coming from the cave. They entered the cave and it was dark. "He should be in here somewhere," Eli said.

Burpy and Flare used their protoform abilities by creating fire on their heads as lights. All of the sudden, Cavern Bats exited out the cave Eli and Khai were in! They shivered in a little fright. Then, they walked over the pool of Dark Water.

The surface was bubbling as if something or someone was coming up. Then, a claw hand suddenly raised from the Dark Water! Eli and Khai screamed, while Burpy and Flare shrieked and hugged each other.

A large figure raised up from Dark Water! "Oh, he's here, alright. And he makes such a fine ghoul!" the large figure chuckled evilly as he showed them the Ghouled Water Elemental!

"No! Dr. Blakk!" Eli realized. "But... how did you..."

"My trip... to the Deep Caverns... was invigorating," Dr. Blakk answered and swung his huge arm at Eli and Khai. Khai ducked the attack but Eli was unlucky and he got hit.

Eli landed outside the cave. "Eli! Are you okay?" Khai asked him.

"Quite invigorating, indeed!" Dr. Blakk said as he walked towards them. He had larger muscles, dark claws, sharp teeth, tusks on the edges of his chin, horns on his forehead, dark red eyes, and his size was bigger-if-not-equal-to that of a Cave Troll.

This was Khai's first encounter with Dr. Blakk. She felt terrified to see him as a monster. He was unlike to his original self like that picture Trixie showed it to her on her tablet.

"How long I've waited for this moment!" he shouted. Eli stood up and held his blaster as he walked backwards in fear. Khai did the same too. "Without the Elemental Slugs, The 99 Caverns will tear themselves apart!" he added as he showed them the Water Elemental Ghoul.

Eli fired his Mega Morphed Rammstone at him but nothing happened. Dr. Blakk knocked it off with his chest and it turned back to its protoform. Dr. Blakk caught it and suddenly ghouled the Rammstone much to Eli's shock! Khai felt the same too when she saw that.

Then, Dr. Blakk loaded the Ghouled Rammstone into his huge-like blaster called the Gattler that I once told Khai about it and how dangerous it was. He shot the Mega Morphed Grimmstone at them! Khai quickly reacted and shot Ginga, her Mega Morphed Starix. He performed _Shooting Star Dash_ as he curled into a ball. He bashed the Grimmstone in full force and did the same move on Dr. Blakk. Ginga's attack was enough to knock Dr. Blakk's feet off and his back hit against the rock wall.

Dr. Blakk stood up. "So... you must be a new ally to The Shane and his gang," he guessed.

"I am Charrize Antoinette Reyes. But you can call me Khai," Khai introduced herself.

Dr. Blakk just laughed evilly. "I have no interest on you," he said to her. He shot a Grimmstone at her! Before she could react, it knocked her off and she fell to the sea of Dark Water!

"Khai!" Eli shouted out her name and ran over to the cliff. Doc was incredibly shocked. Eli looked down and he didn't see her. He thought fearfully that she had dove into the Dark Water.

Suddenly, Eli felt a huge hand grabbed him and lifted him up. Dr. Blakk was holding him with his big claw hand! He aimed his Gattler at Eli!

"No, as tempting as it is to finish this now, The Goon and I have bigger plans for you," he told Eli before he threw him against the wall. "As we take the Elementals one by one, I want you to see that everything you love would turn to ash before your eyes, and you look back and wish it all ended here."

Dr. Blakk shot multiple Ghoul Slugs from above the entrance of the cave and rocks were falling! Eli raced towards the exit, while Dr. Blakk laughed evilly just as the exit was completely blocked by rocks and everything went black. Burpy used his protoform ability to light up the cave.

"Blakk! How does he know about the Elementals?" Eli was furious and wondered about it. Then, he thought about Khai. _Khai is ghouled now by the Dark Water. I have failed to save her..._

Back with the Shane Gang and I, we were still dueling against the Goon and the Darkbanes. We leaned against a huge rock as a barrier.

"Eli and Khai have been gone too long. I don't like it," Trixie said in frustration. She made it to the other rock and shot her slug. I was worried about Khai's safety.

Yamu used the binoculars to see the island and saw smoke coming from that island. "I am guessing that the smoke has something to do with it," he guessed.

"We gotta get over there and help them," Zak told us.

"Uh... once we beat that thing!" Falcon said and he pointed at Dr. Blakk, who was in his new form.

"Dr. Blakk?!" Kord shouted in shock. All of us were as shocked as him.

"Uh... he appears to have been... working out," Pronto blurted out.

"Wait... Blakk and the Goon, together?!" Trixie was shocked too. John was utterly shocked and terrified to see his former boss as a monster.

"You have the Elemental?" The Goon asked Dr. Blakk. Dr. Blakk gave the Water Elemental Ghoul to him. "Excellent. And The Shane? I sense that he is still alive! Why didn't you finish him?!" he furiously questioned him.

"After all he has done to me, I want him to suffer. Ending him now would be too merciful," Dr. Blakk answered.

"You're a fool! You should have ended him while you had the chance!" The Goon scolded him. "And where's Khai? Why didn't you capture her?!" he added.

"What?" Dr. Blakk was a bit confused. "Why would we even need her?" he asked.

"She is no ordinary girl! She is special, you fool! Quick, to the next Elemental!" the Goon explained. He, Dr. Blakk, and the Darkbanes fled to find the next Elemental.

"They're splitting," Kord said as they left. "Okay, now we can concentrate on helping out Eli and Khai. Now Junjie..." He turned to Junjie but he was gone. "Eh... Junjie?" They began to wonder where he had gone.

"Hey, Wen Jing is gone too," Ha-Chan noticed.

It turned out that Junjie and I were chasing the Goon. Junjie shot his Arachnet slug towards the Goon. As the Arachnet slug grabbed him from behind, Junjie pulled the wed sting to stop him. The Goon fell then got up on his feet.

"I cannot allow you to leave you with that slug," Junjie stated as he pointed at the Ghouled Water Elemental in a ghoul tube strapped on the Ghoulish Slinger's belt. The Goon growled at him and his Arachnet fearfully hid behind his shoe.

"Listen to us! You are not our enemy. The Goon is controlling your mind, as he once controlled Junjie. You have to fight him!" I tried to reach the host slinger.

"He cannot hear you, Eastern Champions. But I can," The Goon told us. "I used to think I'd never find a host as good as you, but this one is actually better~ After all, what kind of slinger cannot even save his home cavern?" he mocked Junjie for his failure to protect his caverns.

"Hey! Shut it! It is your fault for controlling Junjie!" I furiously yelled at him.

"You seem to possibly take the liking on Junjie," The Goon mocked me, which made me blush a bit.

"Why do you want about Khai, Goon?" I demanded.

"She can control the Elementals because she is the descendant of her twin ancestors, and soon I will control her," The Goon explained.

"How do you know that?" Junjie questioned.

The Goon ignored him and shot a ghoul slug at us. Junjie pushed me out of the way to avoid the ghoul slug. Then, Junjie fired his Geoshard slug, and sent a blast to create a crystal wall.

"Are you alright, Wen Jing?" Junjie asked as he helped me up.

"I'm... fine... just... surprised..." I stammered and started to blush. Junjie smiled, glad to know that I was okay.

We went over the crystal wall and pointed our blasters at the Goon, however, we saw him escaping.

Meanwhile, back with the others, they were staring at the island blankly. "So, uh... any ideas how to get to Eli and Khai?" Kord asked. That's when a rumbling sound was heard as Digger, Eli's Mega Morphed Crystalyd, popped out the ground and Eli came out of it. Digger returned to Eli and entered his backpack.

"Eli!" Trixie exclaimed.

"Blakk is back... somehow. He's got the Water Elemental, and will be going after the rest," Eli informed his team.

"We know. We saw him," Trixie said.

"He's working with the Goon," John added.

"Hey, Khai was with you, Eli. Where is she?" Roza questioned.

"She... fell into the Dark Water when Dr. Blakk knocked her off..." Eli replied.

Everyone was shocked to hear that! Eli had failed to protect the Princess of Marinatopia! Junjie and I came back. Junjie helped Eli up and noticed the sad expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Eli?" Junjie asked him.

"Khai fell into the Dark Water when Dr. Blakk knocked her off!" Falcon answered his question for Eli.

Junjie and I were shocked to hear that and I became devastated of losing her, my dear friend.

"Well... that's true... but..." That's when we heard a familiar voice. We looked towards the source of the voice and it belonged to Khai! Everyone was shocked to see her okay!

"Khai!" I ran up to her and hugged her. "I am so glad to see you okay and fine!"

Doc hopped towards her and onto her right shoulder. He chipped as he said that he was so terrified but glad to see her alive.

"Khai?! I thought... you fell into... the sea of Dark Water!" Eli told her in disbelief.

"I use my Semblance to teleport safely," Khai answered. Fairy ran up to her and knocked her feet off. She licked Khai on her face because she was happy to see her owner okay.

"The Goon is after you, Khai!" I informed her. Khai was surprised to hear that.

"The Goon knew about your twin ancestors and we have no idea how he knows that," Junjie added.

"Do not worry, Princess Khai! I, Pronto the Magnificent, will protect you from the Goon!" Pronto exclaimed.

"Then we need to get to the next one first!" Eli said as he held the female Enigmo Slug. Mo appeared on Eli's right shoulder and sighed romantically as he looked at his lover.

"Ready to open that map?" Eli asked the female Enigmo and she chirped joyfully.

"Uh... Pronto volunteers himself to fire the Enigmo," Pronto announced. "Hehe, no need to get slung it if you can avoid it, hehe." He walked towards Eli and was given the slug.

"Uh, Junjie, Wen Jing? What happened there?" Kord asked Junjie and I. "You do realize you bailed and left Eli and Khai trapped, right?"

"The Goon was escaping with the Elemental. I trusted Eli could handle himself, which he did," Junjie explained.

"Khai, you nearly lost your life when you almost dove into the Dark Water!" I exclaimed to her.

"I am fine now," Khai replied, trying to calm me down.

"Please... never do that again, Khai," I advised her. She nodded, understood my statement.

"I am ready. Let's do this!" Eli said.

Pronto was about to fire the Enigmo at Eli. "Wait, what if this is how Blakk's beating us?" Trixie stopped the moment and said. "You said yourself The Goon can get in your head. What if he's stealing the Elemental locations from you?!"

"I... do not think so," Junjie corrected her. "Consider The Goon obtained the first Elemental before your Shadow Clans even told us about the six."

"Jun's right, Trix," Eli agreed with him. "Besides, it doesn't work that way. It's more like... a scar. A reminder of what he did to us..." Junjie nodded in agreement.

"Do it," Eli commanded Pronto. The Molenoid shot the Enigmo slug at Eli. When the Enigmo hit him, the light blinded him as the hologram of Will Shane appeared in front of us.

"Eli. If you're listening to this, it's time to unlock the next of the six," The hologram of Will Shane told his son.

"So Blakk has Air and Water, which leaves us with Earth, Fire, Energy and Quintessence," Eli said softly and made his decision. "Locate Quintessence Elemental."

"Unfortunately, the Quintessence Elemental's location is unknown," the hologram of Will Shane stated, which shocked us and led us to wonder where the Quintessence Elemental would be.

"But I will give you a hint: the Quintessence Elemental was once a Guardian Slug. It was always with us and notice the slug's body that will glow in rose aura. Sling it to reveal its true self," he told us.

We tried to guess it but Eli said, "We will figure out that later." He turned to his father's hologram. "Locate Earth Elemental," he said.

"Done. Which were the only teammates of mine I ever brought to the Surface to meet you?" the hologram of Will Shane questioned.

"Hmm..." Eli began to think.

"What about your dad's tracker? Tom Por?" Trixie suggested.

"I don't know. Dad never brought anyone home," Eli said. Burpy came out of his bag and landed on his shoulder. He chirped to get his attention as if he knew the answer.

Realization hit Eli. "Unless... it's your slugs, right? You always said they were slingers' teammates as much as anyone," Eli answered.

"Well done," his father's hologram replied. He revealed the Earth Elemental's location.

"Hey, that's Quartermain Cavern," Kord stated.

"Well that makes it simple," Pronto blurted out. "I know quite a few shortcuts that can get to there quickly."

"Then why are we standing around here for? Let's go!" Trixie told us and was about to leave.

"In just a sec, guys," Eli stopped her tracks. "Trixie mentioned Tom Por. I know you and he had your differences over the years, but he was a good teammate. How did you keep it together when you didn't always get along?" he asked his father's hologram, hoping to get some advice in keeping his team together.

"I'm not your father, Eli. I'm a prehistoric recording based on a limited number of pre-programmed responses," the hologram of Will Shane explained.

"I keep telling that, Mr. Shane man. He just won't listen to me! If you know what is like, right?" Pronto chipped in. Eli felt disappointed because he was unable to get the answer he wanted.

"All I can tell you is – trust your instincts. You'll figure out that, Eli. I promise," the hologram of Will Shane told Eli before he disappeared.

"To Quartermain then," Junjie said. So we all headed off to Quartermain Cavern to find the Earth Elemental.


	3. The Earth Elemental

**Chapter 3: The Earth Elemental**

As we all arrived Quartermain Cavern, we realized that the cavern was dark and dull in colour. There were thorns growing on the walls and a muddy river. "Ugh, so much for simple," Trixie groaned.

"By ghouling two of the Elementals, Blakk and the Goon have ghouled almost half the slugs and Slugterra. It's a miracle we haven't seen even more damage than we have," Eli explained.

"Yeah, I just hope the other caverns are doing better than this place," Kord agreed. We believed that this cavern was ghouled as well after the loss of the two Elementals.

Pronto stared at the muddy river with a disgusted face. "So... what do we do?" he asked us.

"Only one thing to do: close your eyes, hold your nose... and JUMP!" Eli exclaimed and jumped into the muddy river!

"That is considered a plan? Jump?" Junjie questioned in disbelief.

"Yeah, it is!" Kord cheered and followed Eli. Trixie also joined in the fun. The rest of us were disgusted by Eli's idea.

"Falcon and I will follow them by flying," Roza said. She activated her jet wings and Falcon changed form into his falcon form. Then, they chased after Eli, Kord and Trixie.

Ha-Chan wanted to follow them. "No, Ha-Chan. It's too dangerous. You stay with Fairy, Ying and Thunderoar so you will be safe," Khai told her. Ha-Chan pouted as she was disappointed.

"Surely there must be another way that it was getting a bit less on my luxurious Molenoid coat," Pronto said.

"So... how are we going to follow the others without getting muddy?" Nate questioned.

"Actually, friend Pronto and Nate, there is," Junjie answered and smiled. He and Pronto shared the same gaze at each other. They had the same idea. While Nate was a bit confused.

Meanwhile, Eli Kord and Trixie were having fun as they swam through the muddy river of Quartermain Cavern. Roza and Falcon were following them from above, flying. Then, Eli noticed that Junjie, Pronto, Khai, John, Nate, Yamu, Zak and I were not following them.

That's when Junjie appeared as he used a crystal-like board to surf the muddy river. He was followed by Pronto, Khai, John, Nate, Yamu and Zak. I was holding onto the board tight and I lowered my body because I was not good at balancing. Eli and the others were awed to see us surfing.

"All it takes is your Geoshard slugs. And a fair degree of balance," Junjie told Eli, Kord and Trixie.

"You heard 'em, guys! Fire your Geoshards!" Eli shouted and shot his Geoshard. It reached velocity and used its crystals to create a board. Eli grabbed onto the board, stood up and surfed up. Kord and Trixie did the same too and they surfed along.

As we surfed through the muddy river while cheering, Khai did some surfing tricks that made everyone awed to see her tricks, while Junjie smiled at her amazing tricks. Pronto, on the other hand, did some lame tricks while surfing.

"Hey, hey! Look at me! I am so epic!" Pronto boasted. "Probably the most epic surfers will ever..." All of the sudden, his crystal board got hit by a rock and he flung towards Kord!

"Watch out!" Kord warned out. Pronto landed onto him and Kord fell onto Trixie's board, and she fell over. This caused a chain reaction, which resulted in John, Nate, Yamu, Zak and I to fall off from our boards! We all fell into the muddy river.

"Pronto!" Eli exclaimed the Molenoid's name and he, too, fell into the muddy river.

Everyone got muddy except Junjie and Khai. Roza and Falcon giggled at us since they were above us and didn't get muddy.

Then, Junjie spotted the Earth Elemental from the top of a cliff. "The Earth Elemental!" he shouted and got the attention of the slug.

Eli saw it too. "We did it!" he cheered.

"Nice!" Trixie complimented. We finally found it.

So Junjie shot his Rammstone and used his Slug Fu. "Easy now... I got you, little lord," he murmured and began to concentrate. His Rammstone turned to the right and missed the Earth Elemental!

"He missed!" Kord could not believe it!

"I'm on it!" Trixie said and fired her Armashelt towards the Earth Elemental.

However, Junjie commanded his Rammstone to rotate and it was now heading towards the Earth Elemental in the opposite direction of the incoming Armashelt! Both the Armashelt and Rammstone were about to collide with each other, with the Earth Elemental trapped in between!

Khai quickly used her Slug Fu to stop the two slugs, saving the Earth Elemental. When the Earth Elemental looked down and saw her, it immediately got attracted to her.

"Jump!" Khai called out to the Earth Elemental and it speedily obeyed her. It jumped off the cliff and safely landed on her head. Khai commanded Trixie's Armashelt and Junjie's Rammstone to return back to their protoforms. As they changed back, they landed onto her shoulders.

"Nice work, Khai!" Eli praised.

"Oh no!" Trixie exclaimed in horror.

"Look out!" Roza exclaimed as she saw a dead end up ahead! We saw it too!

"Brace for impact!" Kord yelled.

Khai quickly loaded Blaze, her Mega Morphed Hop Rock, and shot him towards the dead end. He destroyed the dead end and we, except Roza and Falcon, all fell into a pit full of mud!

After we dove into the mud pit, everyone went up to the surface. Though, Pronto was holding onto Junjie and the Eastern Champion just looked at him with a strange expression. Pronto giggled nervously. While I was holding onto Nate. Then, Trixie looked around to find Khai and the Earth Elemental. She spotted her and the Earth Elemental, who was still on top of her head.

Unfortunately, Khai was drowning because there was something wrong with her left leg as it was aching. Eli quickly went over to her. He wrapped his left arm around her torso and pulled her back to the surface, preventing her form drowning.

"We have to seal that up!" Eli told us because more and more mud were filling up the pit. We all shot our Arachnet Slugs and they all created a huge web. They threw the web and sealed the hole. We found dry land and got out of the pool of mud. Roza and Falcon were still flying and they were above us.

"Are you all okay?" Roza asked us.

"Yeah, we are okay," Kord replied.

Then, the Earth Elemental hopped onto Khai's right shoulder and nuzzled her neck as it purred like a kitten.

"The Earth Elemental really takes the liking on you, Khai," Eli remarked.

I was reminded about Will's message that all the Elemental Slugs would immediately bond with Khai due to her striking resemblance of her twin ancestors.

Looking at the Earth Elemental, Khai decided to call it... Quake. The Earth Elemental, now named Quake, chirped happily as he liked his new name.

"Wah? Why do you name him?" Pronto questioned in disbelief.

"Naming the Earth Elemental will be nice instead calling him 'The Earth Elemental'," Khai explained.

"That's right," Eli agreed. "Plus, Quake likes her a lot because he is attracted to her."

"Eh... not to be a bummer, but I don't think those... webs can hold much longer!" Pronto cut in and informed us. We saw the mud was leaking out of the web and it was going to burst!

"I don't know what we've got to get us through a million tons of mud!" Kord stated worriedly, fearing that we might get drowned.

Khai felt worried too and then, Quake chirped at her as if he was telling her that he had an idea to stop all the mud from overflowing.

"The Earth Elemental! Look like he's got an idea to get us out!" Eli said.

"Yes, he has," Khai agreed and brought out a slug tube. He hopped into it. She then loaded him into her wrist blaster, aiming at the webs, and was about to sling Quake.

However, Junjie stopped her for a moment. "That is unadvisable. It would be more prudent to not use the new slug until you have had time to properly train it," he told her, worried that it might not work as Khai was not train to control the Earth Elemental.

"I trust all slugs, like I trust Quake," Khai told him back.

"Me too," Eli added. "Besides, it's not like we have any choice."

Khai fired Quake towards the webs and he transformed into a bull-like creature, with horns, and rock-like plates covering his body. His colour scheme was silver and mud brown. He spat out a substance and stopped the mud from overflowing by freezing it. However, the substance spread across the cavern and we were suddenly frozen by it since we were covered by mud all over our bodies. Roza and Falcon were the only ones not affected because they didn't get muddy.

"Oh, Floppers," Eli sighed.

"Uh... Quake? A little help?" Khai called to him. He instantly obeyed her and crashed onto the ground in front of us. He released us and cleaned us up. We cheered as we were free and we had succeeded in our mission.

"That was awesome!" Eli cheered.

Khai extended her hand to let Quake hop onto it. "Thank you for helping us and cleaning us up," she thanked him. Quake chirped as a reply and he blushed a bit. She giggled at him when she saw his cute blush.

"Now let's get out of here! Blakk and the Goon are probably already headed to the next Elemental," Eli told us.

So Khai loaded Quake and fired him. The Shane Gang and I followed as we shot our Earth Slugs to make a way out.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Quiet Lawn Cavern, the cavern was not quiet today as Dr. Blakk, the Goon and his Dark Slinger, along with the army of Darkbane were invading the cavern! They were crashing into houses and damaging property by firing ghoul slugs as if they were trying to find something. The residents fled in terror.

"I am telling you – it's not here!" Dr. Blakk shouted.

"And that is _my_ fault?" The Goon asked sarcastically.

"Yes! We should have gone after the Earth Elemental as I have suggested it!" he explained.

"You honestly think that I will listen to a monster such as yourself?!" The Mega Morphed Goon Doc protested.

"You sounded like you don't trust me..."

"Should I?!"

"Of course not!"

"Alright! Knock it off!" Red Hook stepped in and yelled angrily. "I don't know what's worse: you two bickering like merry Molenoids, or the fact that you are TEARING MY TOWN APART!"

"Red Hook! You deaf twit!" Dr. Blakk insulted Red Hook.

Red Hook gasped. "Nobody calls me deaf!" he defended. He sent out his hook to attack Dr. Blakk, but the evil scientist grabbed hold of his hook and pulled the old man towards him.

"What's up with you, Blakk? You got bad allergies or something? You're bloated and puffy!" Red Hook asked Dr. Blakk.

"The Energy Elemental. Where is it?" Dr. Blakk asked him. Red Hook laughed, stating that was just a stupid legend like the Burning World. Furious, Dr. Blakk grabbed him and lifted him slightly up.

"Tell me where it is," Dr. Blakk demanded him.

"What do I look like, a mind reader?" Red Hook huffed.

"No, but I am," The Goon said and emitted a green glow onto himself and Red Hook, reading his mind.

"Hey! Hey! Quit messing around my noodle box, you snoot!" Red Hook protested.

"He's speaking the truth," The Goon stated after reading his mind. "The only thing that's going on in that daft brain is a recipe for hot sauce and some plans to watch a _terrible_ movie."

Red Hook gasped in shock. "Terrible?! 'Max Jackson 2000 Furious Punches' is the best blockbuster movie ever made! What do you like? 'Kisses From A Hoverbug'?" Red Hook taunted The Goon.

"We are wasting time here! We must hurry to the next Elemental, and hope that we figure out where this Energy slug is on route! And we will try to capture Khai!" The Goon commanded.

"We are running in circles! What if you are wrong about the next one too? What if the Shane Gang finds the Energy Elemental before us?! And why are you after Khai?" Dr. Blakk questioned.

"If I can't find it, they won't either," The Goon explained. "Their intel can't be possibly be as good as mine. Once we have the others, and we will, the Energy Elemental will be easy to find. Once we have all the Elementals, we will capture Khai and I will mind control her to command the Elementals to destroy Slugterra."

"Fine! We will play it your way, slug. For now," Dr. Blakk replied. He turned to Red Hook. "But for you, we get to play it – my way..." Red Hook gulped in terror.


	4. The Energy Elemental & Flare's True Self

**Chapter 4: The Energy Elemental & Flare's True Self**

Eli, Pronto, Junjie and Roza were looking at the map of the Elementals to find the location of the next Elemental Slug. Inside Eli's backpack, Mo gave flowers to his lover, which surprised her. After she took it from Mo, she suddenly ate it, much to Mo's surprise! She burped and he sighed romantically. Meanwhile, Quake, the Earth Elemental was playing around Khai's hair and I was giggling when I saw that. Doc was with her too.

Then, Banger and other Earth Slugs came out of Eli's backpack and looked at Quake. Banger and Quake exchanged serious stares but then Banger suddenly hugged him, much to the joy of other slugs. They cheered while Quake sighed.

Meanwhile, Kord, Trixie and the others were talking about Junjie. "I'm just saying because of Junjie, we would that close to losing the Earth Elemental," Kord said.

"But Khai helped us and we got Quake," John said.

"It's not his fault or anything. He's just... too used to being a solo slinger," Trixie corrected him.

"Okay, gang. We have the coordinates. We're heading for Quiet Lawn Cavern," Eli announced and he climbed up to his mecha-beast.

"Uh, good. Maybe Red Hook can help me with this thing," Kord sighed and showed his scanner that was attached onto his blaster.

"Uh, what is that?" Eli asked.

"Well, I noticed that Quake gives out a unique energy signature so I'm thinking if the others have similar properties, I might be able to calibrate our blasters to pick up on it. Maybe," Kord explained.

He pointed his blaster at Khai to scan. The beeping sound startled her slugs. "Woah, easy, guys! I'm just scanning," Kord calmed them down.

On the scanner's screen, it showed three yellow glowing signals, showing that there were _three_ Elementals. "See, something's wrong. I keep bringing three Elementals from Khai," he explained.

"I will try reversing the polarity if I were you," Junjie and Falcon said to Kord at the same time, surprising each other.

"Yeah, I tried that," Kord blurted out, "I don't know. Probably the batteries. I will recharge them as we ride."

We activated our vehicles. "Alright. We're moving now!" Eli exclaimed. Then, we all headed to Quiet Lawn Cavern with Fairy, Ying, and Thunderoar following us.

Once we arrived, the whole cavern was trashed and there was red wind all over it.

"Ugh! They keep beating us to the bunch!" Kord huffed.

"Dr. Blakk, the Goon, and the army of Darkbane were here and they have trashed the cavern," Zak realized.

"If I see them again, I am gonna punch and blast 'em!" Yamu shouted angrily.

"Woah. Calm down, Yamu. Don't go rush," Khai told him.

"Does he always say that?" John asked her.

"Yeah, kinda," Khai replied back to him.

"Dr. Blakk, the Goon, and the Darkbanes were looking for the Energy Elemental! We're too late!" Ha-Chan worriedly said.

"Perhaps not," Junjie corrected confidently.

"None of our slugs that are related to the Energy Elemental have been ghouled," I added. Some of the slugs, which are the Electricity Slugs, Light Slugs and Psychic Slugs, were still slugs and they chirped happily. It seemed that our enemies hadn't found the Energy Elemental yet.

"Are the batteries recharged," Falcon asked Kord.

"Ugh, three signatures. But why? We've only got the Earth Elemental," Kord was confused.

"We can worry about that later," Eli said as he climbed down Lucky.

"There are people who need help." Nate added.

Khai also climbed down Shun and walked. Though, I noticed that she was limping because her left leg was aching. I got worry and told my Boon Doc to heal her. Before Aloe could heal her, Khai stepped onto something under her right foot. She looked down and saw a red hook. Then, she saw a wire that was connected the hook. She followed it and to her shock... she saw the unconscious Red Hook was trapped by a huge rock underneath him!

Khai instantly went over to him and tried to pull the huge rock off of him. Eli, Kord, John, Yamu and Nate came in and helped her.

"I think he's hurt bad!" Kord guessed. They tried to get the huge rock off of Red Hook but it was no good.

Then, Red Hook gasped as he woke up. "Blakk, so is the Darkbane, looking for his Energy Elemental. Trashed the place when they didn't find it. And the Goon, is after a girl named Khai! We've got a real pressure around here!"

"Hang on of there, Red Hook. We're going to get you out of there," Eli comforted him.

"Hurry, get this off of him!" Eli told us and he shot Spinner. Spinner spat a web on the huge rock. Then, he wrapped the web string around another huge rock from above. Trixie fired her Thresher Slug and it cut down the huge rock. When it fell down, the huge rock that was on Red Hook finally moved.

Eli went over to Red Hook and he coughed. "Once again I owed the Shane for all of I have... but I'm afraid... I won't have a chance to repay you," he said and to our shock, he was dying.

"I think it's too late," Junjie said sadly.

"Not for Doc," Eli defended firmly as Doc hopped onto his shoulder. "You can do this! I know you can."

Doc used his Protoform Abilities to heal Red Hook, and suddenly, the red wind disappeared in a second and came back again. After Doc healed Red Hook, he was not moving and we were worried if he was dead. Then, his eye blinked and he gasped as he stood up on his feet! He lived!

We and everyone in Quiet Lawn Cavern cheered to see him alive. Pronto, on the other hand, cheered for himself. "Hooray for Pronto! Hehe, come on, am I right?" he cheered.

"That is quite a slug!" Junjie exclaimed when he saw Doc.

"He is a healer, a guardian you wanted that," Eli explained.

"No, I have seen healers before. That, is something special," Junjie said.

"Woah, woah, woah! Wait a minute! I thought this thing wasn't working because it was reading three Elementals," Kord explained as he scanned Doc. "And look, one of them was reading Doc! What if...?"

"Doc _is_ the Energy Elemental?" Eli was utterly surprised. Doc nodded.

"This is where you got him. The Hooligang probably found him here before you two duel," Trixie explained.

"I already guessed it. Doc can be a guardian slug, and he can be more than that. I can sense it from him," I added.

"Now we have two Elementals, then... what is the third signature?" Kord wondered.

I looked at Flare. "Kord, try scan on Flare," I told Kord.

When he pointed his scanner at Flare and she appeared as the third signature. Suddenly, Flare's body emitted in a rose aura.

"The slug is glowing!" Pronto exclaimed in shock.

"Khai, try to sling Flare," I told her.

Her Infurnus entered her slug tube and Khai loaded her into her wrist blaster. Then, she slung her to the sky. Flare transformed and her body glowed brighter with rose aura around her. She transformed again into a rose and scarlet colored phoenix-dragon with magenta flames ignited her wings. Glowing hot pink patterns covered all over her body just like Doc's. Everyone, even Khai and I, were awed to see Flare's amazing transformation. Suddenly, Flare released a sparkle of rainbow and it rained down on Quite Lawn Cavern. The red wind stopped and Quite Lawn Cavern's damages were restored! We're amazed to see that!

Flare then returned back to her protoform. Though, when she returned to her protoform there was a slightly difference on her protoform: glowing hot pink patterns covered all over her body. We, except for me, realized that Flare was the Quintessence Elemental! Khai felt unbelievable that her Infurnus was really the Quintessence Elemental all along!

"But... how could Flare be the Quintessence Elemental?" Trixie wondered, and so did others.

"Will did give us a hint: the Quintessence Elemental was once a Guardian Slug. It was always with us and notice the slug's body that will glow in rose aura. Sling it to reveal its true self," I explained. "Plus, Flare is already different from other Infurnus slugs, so I kinda guess it."

All of our slugs gathered around Flare, amazed to see that she's really the Quintessence Elemental and was a Guardian Slug. Burpy came up to Flare and hugged her. He felt delighted to his lover as the Quintessence Elemental. Now we had three Elementals in our hands.

"Well, not to rush things but I am sure that the cavern will be safe in Red Hook's capable hands," Pronto informed us and then realized his mistake. "Uh, hand. I mean, hook. But, there is still one Elemental, that we have not accounted for."

"The Fire Elemental! We better hurry," Eli realized.

Before we left, Red Hook stopped us for a moment. "What's wrong?" Eli asked him.

Red Hook came up to Khai. He examined her closely. Khai awkwardly asked him, "Uh... is there something wrong?"

"Are you... the daughter of one of Will's teammates?" Red Hook questioned her and she was a bit surprised by his question. Khai slowly nodded in reply.

"I see now... Huh, you looked like one of Will's teammates, whose name is Rachelle," he added.

She got shocked when he mentioned her mother's name. "H... How did you know?" she asked him.

"Well, I had known her a bit well. She was the member of Team WFRG," Red Hook explained. "Oh, and a man named Fitzgerald requested me a gift for his precious daughter. He was one of the member of Team WFRG too."

Khai rose her eyebrow. "What was my father's request?" she asked.

"Follow me to my house. I have something for you to give," he told her. We were about to follow but Red Hook told us off to stay outside and added that it was private.

As Red Hook led Khai to his house, he searched around as if he was looking for something. While Red Hook was searching, Khai spotted a photo frame of a young Red Hook with another man that looked exactly like Red Hook. She realized who was that other man: it's Blue Hook, the twin brother of Red Hook. Though, Blue Hook lived in her cavern and his home cavern was Autumn Forever Fall Cavern. Then, she spotted another photo frame that was next to the photo of Red Hook and Blue Hook. It's a photo of Team WFRG with Red Hook in it.

Then, Red Hook found a brown box that he was looking for. He came up to Khai and handed the box to her. "What's inside the box?" Khai asked him.

"Open it and see it," he told her.

With that, she opened the box and inside the box was a blue and black Twin Sparkwing SF Pro wrist blaster. She was surprised to see another wrist blaster.

"Your father requested me to create a special wrist blaster for his precious daughter for her 16th birthday as a gift," Red Hook explained to her.

Khai was stunned to hear that. Looking at her new wrist blaster and she smiled at it. "Thank you, Red Hook," she thanked him.

"Don't mention it. Besides... it was your daddy's idea," Red Hook said as he patted her head softly. "Now get out there and save for the sake of Slugterra from Dr. Blakk, Goon, and their Darkbane army!"

Khai nodded in understanding and rushed out of his house. When she returned to us, Yamu asked, "What did Red Hook give you?"

That's when Junjie noticed the blue and black wrist blaster that was strapped on her right arm. He was surprised to see another wrist blaster.

"He gave me this wrist blaster. He was requested by my father for my 16th birthday as a gift," Khai explained. We are shocked to hear that.

"Only a Slug Fu Master may wear a wrist blaster. Your father must have known that you will be a Slug Fu Master, which right now, you are," Junjie stated.

"But how is that possible? Nobody has ever known about Slug Fu in The 99 Caverns," I wondered.

"Maybe her father gave a blueprint for Red Hook to do it," Zak guessed.

After that, Eli said, "I really wanted to find the truth about Team WFRG, but right now, we need to find the Fire Elemental before our enemies do." With that, we headed to the location of the Fire Elemental.


	5. Upright Cavern & The Fire Elemental

**Chapter 5: Upright Cavern & The Fire Elemental**

We arrived to a cavern called Upright Cavern, where the Fire Elemental was living. "Upright Cavern. According to dad's hologram, the Fire Elemental should be at the top," Eli told us about his father's map as he pointed to the cavern. We saw the opening of the cavern on top of us, which was the reason why it was called "Upright Cavern".

"What?! There is no way our mechas could make it up there!" Pronto said.

"No, but I know what can – jetpacks!" Kord said.

"While we can use our Magical Scepters to create flying carpets," Yamu and Zak stated.

"I can use my jet wings," Roza added.

"I will use my falcon form," Falcon said.

"I can fly up too since I am a Flower Fairy!" Ha-Chan cheered.

"No, Ha-Chan. It might be a long way to fly to the top and your wings might get very tired," Khai told her off. She turned to Trixie. "Trixie, keep Ha-Chan safe." Trixie nodded in understanding.

"We do not have jetpacks. Eli, Khai and I will use Burpy, Joo-Joo and Flare to retrieve the Fire Elemental," Junjie explained as he loaded his Infurnus. He slung Joo-Joo, and his Infurnus transformed. He flew back to his owner and Junjie jumped onto him. Now he was riding on him. Joo-Joo made some graceful movements while flying, much to Glace's awe.

"Wow, you're pretty good at that, Junjie," Eli was impressed and so did I.

"Well, I have been flying my Infurnus since I was five," Junjie explained.

"Really? I sort of just... figured it out," Eli said as he loaded Burpy.

"I, on the other hand, had rode on Flare since I was four years old," Khai told us.

The Shane loaded Burpy and slung him. Burpy was now flying beside Junjie and Joo-Joo. Before Eli could call his Infurnus, Kord asked him, "Whoa, whoa. You're gonna fly up there without us, bro? You really gonna choose him, over us?"

"Us? Aren't the 14 of us? Us?" Eli got confused by the Cave Troll's question.

"It's not that Junjie is not talented or even nice," Trixie said.

"But then again, Twist seemed very nice when he joined us. Well, at first," Pronto added about John when he joined the Shane Gang before he betrayed them, which made John a bit hurt when Pronto mentioned that.

"No offence," he quickly apologized him, which John accepted it and said, "None taken. It's in the past now."

"This isn't anything like that! Sure, we had some growing pains but we need Junjie. I'm sure of it, as much as we need each other," Eli explained. Everyone, except Khai and I, was a bit unconvinced to Eli's suggestion.

Eli then blew a whistle to call his Infurnus and rode on him. Khai was about to join them as she loaded Flare into her new wrist blaster that Red Hook gave it to her. Before she slung Flare, I said to her, "Khai, can you let me come with you three?" Everyone was shocked and surprised, even Junjie.

"It is too dangerous, Wen-Wen," Khai told me.

"I don't care! I wanted to go with you, Junjie and Eli," I stubbornly said.

Khai sighed in defeat and let me come with them. She took Cloudy, her Mega Morphed Hoverbug, from her bandolier that was strapped on her waist. She loaded Cloudy into her left wrist blaster and was about to fire him.

Kord stopped her in a moment and questioned, "Hey, Khai, why your Hoverbug was not ghouled since the Air Elemental is ghouled?"

"I have had thought of that too," Trixie stated, "Buster is not ghouled too, along with Stinky and Beat."

"Also look at Yamu and Zak's slugs. Their slugs are not ghouled at all!" Kord added as he pointed at Yamu and Zak's slugs as they are not ghouled as well.

I also noticed that Glace and Chiller were not ghouled too since the Water Elemental was ghouled.

"Well, Yamu, Zak and my slugs are from Marinatopia. Slugs are protected by Marinatopia's magic. If slugs left Marinatopia, the protection of Marinatopia's magic still protects them as they cannot be ghouled. However, the other slugs from outside of Marinatopia don't have magical protections, which they can be ghouled," Khai gave a short explanation. Everyone was shocked to hear that.

Trixie suddenly asked her, "Why some of our slugs are not ghouled. They are not from Marinatopia."

"Do you remember the day that the Dazzling Sirens tried to take over Slugterra?" Khai questioned us. All of us nodded as we remembered the villains.

"The reason why some of your slugs are not ghouled because they are protected by the magic," she explained, "because they gained Slug Up Forms when they were in their human forms as they have become new Slug Bearers of Harmony. Just like my beloved slugs."

We were so shocked to hear that! We could not believe that some of our slugs are now Slug Bearers of Harmony! "Can you explain more about it, Khai?" I asked her.

"But it is very long, Wen Jing," she told me, "and we need to get the Fire Elemental."

"Agree," Eli stated, "we must hurry to get the Fire Elemental before our enemies do."

With that, Khai fired both Flare and Cloudy. She hopped on Flare and I hop on Cloudy. Eli, Junjie, Khai and I flew up to the top to search for the Fire Elemental.

"Well, I guess he chose," Kord murmured.

As we were flying, Eli blurted out, "I'd like to see Blakk get here first. After all, it's not like Darkbane can fly."

"Eli, look!" Junjie called out.

"Woah! We did it!" Eli exclaimed as we arrived the top of Upright Cavern. There were many lava falls and lakes all over the place, which looked like the Forgesmelter Chamber in the Magma Caverns.

"There he is!" I called out when I spotted the Fire Elemental that was sitting on a rock.

"Uh, hey there!" Eli greeted the Fire Elemental, which caught his attention. "I'm Eli and this is my friend Burpy."

Burpy was excited to meet his ancestor and did a spin. "Woah! Hello there! Easy there, Burpy," Eli said.

The Fire Elemental then looked at Khai and he immediately got attracted to her as he jumped up and down, and was chirping in a happy tone. Just then, ghoul slugs were fired from below! We looked down and saw the army of Darkbanes riding on eels!

"It appears that Darkbane can fly!" Junjie said.

"Move!" Eli told us and we flew away while they chased us. We all dodge the ghoul slugs and we fired our slugs.

"Everyone! Shoot your slugs on the eels, not the riders!" Eli told us. So we fired our Rammstone Slugs and we managed to knock three eels down but more kept coming!

"It's no use! They're too many!" Junjie exclaimed.

Eli spotted Dr. Blakk climbing up the wall. "Blakk!" he said angrily and shot a slug at him. In response, Dr. Blakk shot multiple ghoul slugs from his Gattler. We dodged all of his ghoul slugs. We then heard a scream from the Fire Elemental! We looked and saw the Goon approaching the Fire Elemental!

"I'm sorry. Did I interrupt the family reunion?" The Goon asked evilly and he was inside his host's blaster.

"NO!" Eli screamed.

The Dark Slinger shot the Goon at the Fire Elemental. He reached velocity and landed in front of the Fire Elemental. He smiled evilly at him. The Fire Elemental tried to run away but the Goon caught him! Using his dark energy, he ghouled him!

All of the Fire Slugs, except Burpy and Joo-Joo, were all ghouled! I quickly checked on my Fire Slugs. I was horrified to find Jingxi, my Blastipede as a ghoul! Eli's Fire Slugs, Rocky, Sparky, Rookie and Torch were turned into ghoul slugs! So did Junjie's Hop Rock and Grenuke. However, Baozhu, Yanyan and Huohuo were not ghouled. I remembered that they had achieved their Slug Up Forms so the magic had protected them. Moreover, Khai's Fire Slugs were not ghouled too.

We found that Dr. Blakk, The Goon and the Darkbanes were chasing us now. Realizing we were in danger, we quickly flew down Upright Cavern to escape from the villains. As we traveled downwards, they slung their ghoul slugs. A Hop Jack hit Cloudy's back, injuring him. He turned back into his protoform and I was falling!

"WEN JING!" Junjie and Khai screamed my name as I fell.


	6. Tunnel Chase

**Chapter 6: Tunnel Chase**

As I fell, Junjie, Eli and Khai were trying to save me while avoiding all the fired ghoul slugs. "Retrieve the Elemental! And I want Eli alive!" we could hear Dr. Blakk's command.

He shot three Hop Jacks at Junjie, Eli and Khai. Burpy and Joo-Joo got hit by the two Hop Jacks, causing them to return to their protoforms. Junjie and Eli were now falling! The third Hop Jack was about to hit Flare but she sensed it and quickly dodged it. Junjie's back hit Eli from behind and Quake fell off from Eli's bandolier!

"Oh no! Quake!" Khai exclaimed in horror! She quickly saved Quake and then, suddenly, seven fired slugs were shot from below us and took down the Darkbanes they were chasing us on their eels!

"Jetpacks! Made to order!" Kord called out as he and the others appeared with jetpacks on their backs. Roza used her jet wings, Falcon was already in his falcon form, while Yamu and Zak were on the magic flying carpets thanks to their Magical Scepters. Nate, Fairy, Ying and Thunderoar were riding with them. Nate was riding on Zak's magic carpet, while the pets were riding on Yamu's magic carpet.

"And made out from our mecha-beasts!" Trixie added. Ha-Chan was safely holding onto Trixie's right shoulder tightly.

Kord saved Eli, while Yamu caught Junjie in his arms. Trixie was about to catch me but she missed me!

"Do not worry!" Pronto shouted as he flew like Superman. "Pronto will save you-" Before he could finish his sentence, I landed flat on his face.

"Great catch, Kord! They've got the Fire Elemental," Eli informed them.

"Yeah, we knew you would need our help when our Fire Slugs suddenly turned ghoul," Kord said.

"We need to get the Fire Elemental back," Junjie told us.

"But it's not gonna be easy!" John added and pointed upwards as our enemies were coming towards us!

"Go, go, go!" Eli exclaimed as we flew downwards.

"There! We can lose them in the tunnel!" Roza pointed a tunnel and told us.

So we headed into the tunnel. As we were flying through the tunnel, a ghoul slug nearly hit Yamu, Junjie, Fairy, Ying and Thunderoar! Trixie responded by shooting her slug back at our enemies. Up ahead we saw two tunnels. Eli commanded us to split up.

Eli, Kord, Roza, Trixie, Ha-Chan, Falcon and John took the right tunnel. While Junjie, Pronto, Khai, Flare, Nate, Zak, Yamu, the pets and I took the left tunnel. Our enemies also split up.

As Darkbanes chased Eli's team, Eli fired Buzzsaw, his Thresher slug towards one of the Darkbanes but missed. John shot his Rammstone and managed to punch a Darkbane off of his eel. Meanwhile, for my team, Junjie fired his Mega Morphed Polero. They transformed and their heads spun together, knocking two Darkbanes off of their eels.

When we reunited, Kord's jetpack was showing signs of low energy. "These jetpacks don't have much juice left!" Kord informed us.

Zak fired Sombre, his Mega Morphed Duskix slug, towards a Darkbane. He transformed into a thick armor wolf with deadly sharp claws. Sombre pushed the Darkbane off balance and attacked him. Khai, on the other hand, slung Shocker, her Mega Morphed Tazerling and she electrocuted a Darkbane, sending him off of his eel. She bowed down happily, but then realized that another Darkbane was trying to catch her!

Pronto's jetpack was losing boost. "Losing power," Pronto told me. Trixie and John's jetpacks were also losing power.

Khai saw the Darkbane was getting closer to catch her Tazerling. Determined not to let one of her beloved slugs to fall into the wrong hands, she shot Webby, her Arachnet slug. Webby sent a web string towards Khai and she held it tight. He then spun his web string around the closest pillar many times. After Khai and Flare flew passed the pillar, Khai prepared to let go.

"Thanks for the lift," she thanked Flare and she let the web string to pull her backwards.

Khai turned to face the enemies. She dodged the ghoul slugs being fired and held her open palm for Shocker. Her Tazerling hopped towards her and Khai caught her! She then kicked the Darkbane who tried to catch Shocker off of his eel! Khai landed onto the eel and rode on it while avoiding the fired ghoul slugs.

"Good job back there," she praised Shocker and Quake came in. He was standing on Khai's shoulder, along with Shocker.

As Khai rode on the eel, Dr. Blakk and The Goon were now behind her and they were getting closer! They were determined to catch her and her slugs. Shocker and Quake looked at Dr. Blakk, and then The Goon. They felt worried as they were going to surround her!

Khai saw a pillar near the exit, which gave her an idea. She jumped off the eel and shot Rom, her Mega Morphed Rammstone, towards the pillar and she destroyed it. Then, she was caught by Flare before she fell as the exit was seal by boulders and rocks. Dr. Blakk, the Goon, and the Darkbanes halted their eels when they saw the exit was blocked by her.


	7. Final Stand Part 1

**Chapter 7: Final Stand Part 1**

After Khai sealed the entrance, all of us were about to crash land. Khai took out her Magical Scepter and created a patch of flowers as we landed safely. The magic flying carpets that Yamu, Zak, Junjie, Nate and the pets rode on them safely landed on the ground. Roza landed her feet on the ground and deactivated her jet wings as they went in her back, while Falcon returned back to his human form. Ha-Chan was still on Trixie's shoulder.

"Well, that's it for our jetpacks," Trixie groaned, realizing that their jetpacks were out of juice.

We stood up and looked around the cavern. Eli felt something familiar. "Pronto... have we been here before?" he asked the Molenoid.

Pronto looked at his map. "Ha! Yes, of course!" He then started to explain a lot of calculations. "I would calculate that we have landed precisely in the neighbourhood of-"

"We're in the Jungle Cavern," Kord interrupted him, which shocked him.

"We're... in the Jungle Cavern," Pronto sighed in defeat that a Cave Troll had beaten his tracking skills.

"But it's been ghouled..." Kord blurted out. The plants and mushrooms were black and glowed in red. The scenery of the cavern was red and dark. It was the opposite of its bright scenery, blue glowing mushrooms and green plants.

"Another cavern lost to the ghouled Elementals!" Trixie said angrily.

"This is what's going to happen to all of Slugterra if Blakk and the Goon get all the six Elementals," Eli explained. Doc hopped onto Eli's palm and looked at the cavern sadly. He burst out crying.

Our enemies were trying to break through the seal as noise came from the sealed tunnel. "They will break through the clock in moments. We must escape and protect the Elementals we have," Junjie suggested.

"No, we can't keep running, Junjie! Like my dad said, getting the six Elementals on hold is the only thing that can save Slugterra! We have to fight them now!" Eli defended.

"We cannot risk losing the Elementals, Eli! And we need to protect Khai from the Goon," Junjie explained.

"But we have Doc," Eli said, "the Energy Elemental is the key. One shot. If we can shoot Doc at Blakk's Elementals, we win!" Doc grinned, feeling confident.

"If you miss, the Energy Elemental will be Blakk's, and the world as we know it, is lost," Junjie warned him.

Inside the sealed tunnel, two Darkbanes shot a Grimmstone, a Hop Jack and a Harmashelt to break the wall but it didn't work.

"Why didn't we just do away with Eli while we had our chance?!" the Goon questioned furiously.

"He has the last three Elementals, and Khai is with him. We need only take them from him and our plan is completed," Dr. Blakk explained.

"Eliminating Eli gives us the same result! Slugterra would no longer be under the protection of the Shane! We would already be in power!" the Goon protested.

"Let me be clear. Eli stays alive to see our total victory. We go as we've agreed!" Dr. Blakk said and shot a Mega Morphed Grimmstone, Hop Jack and Harmashelt. The enemies broke through the wall suddenly! They flew out with their eels.

"Here they come!" Eli told us. He aimed at Dr. Blakk who had the three Ghouled Elementals.

"Cover me. I'm going to try and get a clean shot at Blakk," Eli said.

We shot our slugs towards our enemies. They shot their ghoul slugs towards us. Eli dodged the ghoul slugs and was aiming at Dr. Blakk to try to cure the Elementals.

"Almost..." Eli murmured.

"The shot must be perfect. Do not take if there is any chance of a miss!" Junjie reminded Eli.

"Almost..." Eli saw a Darkbane and the Dark Slinger blocked Dr. Blakk. Eli decided to withdraw the shot.

Dr. Blakk suddenly loaded the Ghouled Air Elemental and fired towards us! It reached velocity and slammed onto the ground where we were around! It created a sinking hole and we were going to be sucked into it! All of us tried to hold on and grab onto something to prevent from becoming a victim, but our efforts were futile. Dr. Blakk chuckled evilly as we screamed in agony and for help.

"Can't... hang... on...!" Kord said as he was holding onto Pronto, trying not to let his friend and himself from falling into the sink hole.

Junjie saved us when he shot his Mega Morphed Vinedrill towards us. It created vines and we got hold of them. The vines carried us upwards and we were safe.

"Great shot! Thanks!" Eli thanked Junjie.

"Well, I could have done that!" Pronto defended.

The eels roared and our enemies continued to sling their ghoul slugs at us. We managed to take shelter. "We're trapped!' Trixie told us when she realized that our enemies had surrounded us.

"Stop! Hold your fire," Dr. Blakk halted the Darkbanes. "Eli, the battle is over. I know you have the other Elemental. You can't win. Give it up!"

"And hand over Khai to us!" the Goon added.

Khai noticed Banger, Eli's Mega Morphed Armashelt, giving an idea to Quake. Banger and Quake showed their idea to Eli.

"Hey... great idea!" Eli realized and turned to Junjie. "Junjie! Load up a Phosphoro! Follow my lead."

They both came out from their hiding place. "Hey, Blakk! You want the Earth Elemental? Go and get it!" Eli announced as he showed Quake in a slug tube and loaded him into the blaster. Junjie speedily fired his Phosphoro, blinding our enemies. Eli switched Quake with Banger, who went into his blaster. When the light died out, Eli fired Banger away.

"The Earth Elemental. Hurry!" Dr. Blakk exclaimed. Our enemies went to the direction where Eli shot Banger. They thought it was Quake. When the villains went over to find Quake, instead, they only found Banger shaking his tail teasingly at them.

"What?! We've been tricked!" Dr. Blakk said.

The Dark Slinger, who was behind Dr. Blakk, shot a Hop Jack towards him, knocking him off of his eel.

"What are you doing?!" Dr. Blakk questioned as he tried to defend himself with his Gattler. However, the eel that the Dark Slinger was riding on used one of its tentacles to knock his Gattler off his grasp, including the Fire Elemental that was inside a large ghoul tube.

"We played it your way far too long!" the Goon shouted angrily. His eel retrieved the Fire Elemental for him. "It's time to do away with Eli – once and for all!" The Goon left with his eel, leaving Dr. Blakk groaning in dissatisfaction.

Meanwhile, we were in a safe spot and were looking at the sink hole from a safe distance. "Slugterra is literally sinking before our eyes!" Eli exclaimed. He turned to us. "Getting the six Elementals together is the only way to save it!"

"Okay. Lay it on me, bro," Kord blurted out.

Eli formed a plan in order to retrieve the other Elementals. We all positioned after Eli told us about the plan. When our enemies returned, Kord, Trixie, Yamu and Zak distracted the Goon and the Darkbanes, keeping them occupied.

Roza took down some Darkbanes using her combat skills, while Nate took down the other Darkbanes by hopping onto the eels and knocking them off with punches. John shot his Vinedrill and tangled the Darkbanes and eels up. Falcon, on the other hand, slung Beat as he released a powerful sonic wave, causing the Darkbanes to cover their ears.

Fairy used _Moonblast_ and launched it towards an eel, knocking it out. Thunderoar electrified the other remaining Darkbanes using his move _Thunderbolt_. Ying, on the other hand, used _Flamethrower_ as she released a fire beam from her mouth and burned other Darkbanes and eels.

Pronto let out a scream, which caught Dr. Blakk's attention. He saw the poor Molenoid running while carrying Eli's backpack. He smirked evilly, thinking that the Elementals were inside the bag.

"Why is it Pronto always the bait?!" Pronto complained worriedly as he ran, with Dr. Blakk following him behind.

Kord looked at his scanner and noticed that Dr. Blakk has only two Elementals instead of three. "Wait the second. Didn't Eli say that Blakk has all the Elementals?" Kord asked.

"Doesn't he?" Trixie asked back.

"My scanner says the Goon's got one, which means..." Kord explained.

"Eli's shot is not gonna work!" I realized.

"Gonna warn Khai. Cover me!" Kord said and quickly went to Khai to inform her. Junjie and I followed him from behind.

"Okay, Pronto. It's all on you," Khai murmured. She was on top of a mushroom, waiting for Dr. Blakk and was about to do her move on him.

"Khai! Stop Blakk from reaching Eli!" Kord suddenly called her out before he was carried away by an eel. "Stop Blakk!" Khai was confused but she did it anyway.

Trixie slung her Mega Morphed Speedstinger and took down two eels but missed the eel that was dragging Kord. "A little help?" he shouted. Yamu shot his Rammstone to save Kord. It knocked him off and Kord fell to the ground, a little dizzy.

"No!" Zak exclaimed as he saw the Goon flew away on his eel. The Goon laughed evilly.

"Get ready, princess!" Pronto signaled to Khai to get ready. Khai, thinking that what Kord told her might have importance, hopped onto Dr. Blakk instead!

"Princess! That is not the plan!" Pronto exclaimed and threw Eli's backpack onto the ground in frustration. "I am totally going to squeal to Eli." Then, he ran off screaming.

Eli saw Dr. Blakk and was about to fire Doc. But then, he noticed that Khai was on Dr. Blakk, fighting. That was not the plan he meant. "Abort! Abort!" Pronto called out.

"That's not Dr. Blakk. Pronto, what's going on?!" Eli questioned.

"Khai is doing her thing and ruined the plan!" Pronto told The Shane. "I'm going to get Kord and Trixie." He then ran while screaming again. Eli gritted his teeth in fury.

Junjie and I were chasing after Dr. Blakk and Khai. Suddenly, Dr. Blakk knocked her off of his eel and she fell! Junjie quickly saved her as he caught her in his arms. I shot my Arachnet and made a string of web between the trees. Dr. Blakk was flung off his eel when he got hit by that web string.

"Are you alright, Khai?" Junjie asked Khai. She replied with a nod that she's okay.

I came up to them and said, "Junjie and I are worried about your safety since you're a princess."

Suddenly, Dr. Blakk aimed his Gattler at us! He shot multiple ghoul slugs at us! Khai teleported away while Junjie and I dodged all the ghoul slugs and retreated to regroup with the others.

"What has she done? This is all wrong!" Eli exclaimed as he was frustrated that his plan was ruined. Khai suddenly appeared beside The Shane and that startled him, including Burpy.

"Kord told me to stop Dr. Blakk from reaching you!" Khai explained to him.

"Why?" The Shane asked.

"Very wrong indeed!" That was when the Goon appeared. He shot the Ghouled Fire Elemental at them! Eli and Khai dodged it and Doc was dropped to the ground.

"The healer!" The Goon yelled. Doc gasped in horror. "You are mine now!" He loaded himself into his host's blaster and was aiming at Doc!

Khai quickly loaded Quake as she had no other choice but she had to save Doc from the Goon! The Goon shot himself towards Doc! Quake was fired and he was able to stop the Goon from reaching Doc. Then, the Goon and Quake charged towards each other. The Goon managed to escape Quake's attack and released a dark ball of energy towards Quake. The blast hit Quake, causing him to turn into a ghoul! All the Earth Slugs were now ghouled due to the loss of the Earth Elemental.

Junjie found his Crystalyd, Dirt Urchin and Thresher slugs turned into ghouls. Kord's Armashelt became a Harmashelt. "Uh oh!" Kord exclaimed.

"Eli and Khai must have somehow lost the Earth Elemental!" Trixie stated.

All of the caverns in Slugterra began to crumble. Some rocks were falling from above. "Yes! It's happening!" Dr. Blakk cheered evilly.

The Goon let out an evil laugh. "We have four out of the six Elementals now, Eli and Khai. Slugterra is almost ours!" he stated and shot an Amperling towards them. Eli and Khai ran off and hid from the Goon.

Meanwhile, we were fighting against the Darkbanes and eels with our remaining slugs that were connected to the Energy Elemental, which were the Electricity, Light and Psychic Slugs. Bludgeon, Spinner and Arthur were not ghouled because they had unlocked their Slug Up Forms. Yamu and Zak's slugs were not affected at all.

All of the sudden, we heard Pronto screaming as he ran towards us, while avoiding an eel from running over him. "Eli is in trouble! It was Khai's fault! She has abandoned the most-" Pronto said.

"Relax, Pronto. It was me. I told Khai to stop Blakk from reaching Eli because Blakk doesn't have all the Elementals," Kord explained.

"And I regret to tell you that we lost them, and the Elementals," Junjie added sadly.

"It's okay, Junjie. You did exactly what the team needed," Trixie comforted him.

"Eli was right. We need you, buddy," Kord said and showed Junjie his fist. "Come here, don't leave a teammate hanging!" Junjie responded by doing a fist bump with Kord.

At the same time, the Goon was searching for Eli and Khai. "I sense you two are close, Eli and Khai. There's no use in hiding!" the Goon said.

"Stay here. I will try to save the other Elementals," Eli told Khai. He came out of his hiding place.

"Who says I am hiding?" Eli said as he aimed his blaster from behind but the Goon knocked his blaster away from him and then tripped him. Eli tried to get his blaster back but the Goon's host blocked him. He chuckled evilly.

"I know you have the Energy Elemental and the Quintessence Elemental somewhere, Eli. We scoured Quiet Lawn Cavern looking for it and it was nowhere to be found!" the Goon stated.

"How did you even know where to look? You somehow hacked into my father's hologram, didn't you?!" Eli asked him.

"Hologram?! No, you fool! I simply hacked into the real thing," the Goon corrected him. His host took off his helmet and revealed himself to be... Eli's father, Will Shane! His father was under the Goon's control!

Eli and Burpy were shocked to see Will again. "Dad! What do you-" Eli tried to reach his father.

"He can't hear you! His mind is mine! You remember what that is like, don't you?" the Goon told him off.

"Yeah. Well, I prefer not to think about it," Eli said as he put his hands up.

"The Energy and Quintessence Elementals. Hand them over now," the Goon was determined to get them from Eli. The Earth and Fire Elemental Ghouls growled at Eli. "And where is Khai?"

That's when he heard a voice. "Right here!" Khai was behind him and shot Reiki towards him! Reiki performed _Heal Pulse_ as she launched a bright green sphere at the Goon and his host! The Goon quickly jumped off of his host's shoulder and the host was hit by Reiki's attack, curing him along with Quake and the Fire Elemental. When the two Elementals were cured, all the Earth and Fire Slugs returned to normal.

"No, no, dad!" Eli called out to his father as he and Khai walked over Eli's father worriedly.

"Eli? The Elementals?" Will questioned. He was alright. Then, Quake, Doc, Reiki and the Fire Elemental gathered. Reiki returned to Khai, while Quake and the Fire Elemental went over to her. Eli got Doc back. Suddenly, a ghoul slug slammed onto the ground in front of Khai and Eli, knocking them off balance.

"Not so fast!" Dr. Blakk shouted as he came to them. He hopped off his eel and walked towards them with his Gattler activated. "Turn your Elementals over, Eli. And turn yourself to us, Khai!" He was about to blast a ghoul slug at them when Will fired Burpy as he saved them by knocking Blakk off.

Khai used her Semblance to teleport safely. Will and Eli rode on Burpy as they escaped from Dr. Blakk and the Goon. The Goon was not very happy at the results. He jumped onto Dr. Blakk and blasted him with dark energy and tried to take control of Dr. Blakk!

"Stop! This is... not the plan!" Dr. Blakk groaned, trying to resist the Goon's control.

"The plan has changed," the Goon explained as his body was surrounded by dark energy. "If you and I can't see eye to eye, then perhaps we can see mind to mind!"

When Eli and Will regrouped with us, Falcon noticed that Khai was not with them. Khai reappeared beside Eli and collapsed to her knees.

"Khai!" I quickly went to her side. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just feeling a bit tired," she replied to me.

"Eli... is this...?" Kord was shocked when he saw the man with Eli.

"Can't be!" Trixie was stunned, so did John, Nate and Falcon.

"So... uhm... who's the hobo?" Pronto asked.

"Dad! You okay?" Eli questioned the man concernedly.

"Dad?" Pronto gasped. "It is!" His eyes widened in surprise. The Shane Gang realized that man was Will Shane!

Burpy, who was on top of Will Shane's shoulders, chirped at him. "Hello, old friend. I'm fine," Will replied.

Then, he looked at Khai and smiled. "Hello, Khai. It's been a long time since I last saw you as a child. You've fully grown up now. You are very much like your mother. But you still have your father's hair and eyes. I know you're searching for him though," Will said to her.

"I... I really do wanna find him. And I am so happy to see you again... dad," Khai said, and everyone was shocked to hear the word "dad".

Will noticed our shocked reaction and decided to change the topic since he had a more important mission to perform. "But Eli, the future of Slugterra is at stake! You must-" he quickly reminded his son about Slugterra would fall apart.

"I know," Eli cut him off.

"Quickly, fill me in!" Will demanded as fast as possible.

"We got four Elementals, the Goon's got two," Eli reported as he showed the Elemental Slugs. "But the good news is..."

"You've got the Energy and Quintessence Elementals," he said. His voice filled with relief and hope.

"Say hello, Doc and Flare," Eli told them as he showed Doc and Flare to Will Shane. They happily waved at Will.

Doc hopped onto Will Shane's shoulder, beside Burpy. "Well, come on, then! We can't wait time! We can catch him by surprise!" Will announced and walked.

"You heard him. Come on!" Eli cheered and told us to follow him.

Meanwhile, the Goon was slowly taking control of Dr. Blakk. Blakk groaned and tried to shake off of the control. "It is no use! You are mine now!" the Goon told him.

"You... can't..." Dr. Blakk groaned and then yelled in pain. A dark light was emitted from his body. His eyes turned red and black veins appeared on his skin and face. The Goon had successfully taken over Dr. Blakk!

"Now, let's finish this!" the Goon said and hopped onto Blakk's eel. "Regroup! Keep your eyes peel! They can't have gotten far!" he announced to the other Darkbanes who were on their eels. We were hiding near the trees and giant mushrooms when we saw the scene.

"We're too late!" Trixie and Ha-Chan exclaimed at the same time.

"We've got to try the same thing as before! Luring to the line of fire so I can shoot him with Doc!" Eli told us and grabbed his blaster. "And this time, we've got two Shanes! Right, dad?" Eli asked and let out his hand.

"Let's do it!" Will Shane said as he held his son's hand, encouraging him to proceed the plan.

"Will Shane just said: 'Let's do it'!" Kord blurted out in admiration.

Pronto, on the other hand, let out an "Eeeeekkkk!" because he was a huge fan of Will Shane. He fell off from the mushroom as a result.

"So, here's what we need to do!" We gathered around Eli and his father to work on the plan.

* * *

Falcon is a doppelganger of Tad, and his slug is the same species as Pieper. Khai and I decide to rename it from Boomer to Beat. Oh yes, Beat is not ghouled because he is from Marinatopia.


	8. Final Stand Part 2

**Chapter 8: Final Stand Part 2**

We proceeded the plan. We took down all the Darkbanes, Pronto lured the Goon, who had mind controlled Dr. Blakk, and Junjie took him down with a shot. Eli and Will lured the mind controlled Dr. Blakk.

"Split up. You can take position at the other side of the sink hole," Will told his son. Eli listened to him and split up with him.

"I've spent so much time in your mind, Will Shane, that I can anticipate your moves," the Goon said as he made Dr. Blakk to aim the Gattler at Will Shane.

"We'll see," Will replied.

Tension ensued as the Goon and Will were face to face. The Goon shot a Mega Morphed Hop Jack. Will dodged it and fired his Sand Angler. The Goon managed to block the slug with Dr. Blakk's huge fist. He quickly shot a ghoul slug and it hit Will's blaster, destroying it beyond repair.

The Goon fired one more Mega Morphed Hop Jack, using it as his finishing blow. However, before the ghoul could hit Will, it suddenly stopped in motion and its body was covered with blue light!

"What?" the Goon was as shocked as Will. Within a short distance, Junjie concentrated hard as his hands were glowing blue. It turned out that Junjie had used Slug Fu to stop the ghoul slug!

"Now, Eli!" Will gave the signal to his son. Eli shot Doc towards the mind controlled Dr. Blakk. As Doc hit both Dr. Blakk and the Goon, the Goon was blasted out of his host and landed on the ground. His body turned pale and wrinkles appeared on him. He had seemly lost his ghoul powers.

The Air and Water Elementals were cured and hopped out the ghoul slug tubes. Junjie, who now had complete control of the Hop Jack, used his Slug Fu on it. He sent it back to Dr. Blakk and knocked him into the sink hole.

"Yes!" Eli cheered.

The Darkbanes' ghoul slugs have returned to their normal forms. We all aimed at them and the Darkbanes ran away as they retreated. We cheered in victory and so did the six Elementals that had all gathered up.

"Great shot, Eli!" Will praised Eli as he picked the six Elemental up in his palms.

"Thanks, dad," Eli replied. "Did we get them all?"

"All six. But to save Slugterra and reverse the damage we need to sling them simultaneously," Will explained. He handed the Elementals to his son and noticed Pronto walking towards him.

"I've met you before..." Will said as he gave Pronto a friendly shake hand. "It's Pinto, right?"

"What? Pinto? Pinto is my identical twin brother!" Pronto corrected him.

"Brother?" Kord was surprised by that fact.

Since we had gathered all 6 Elementals, Will turned to Khai and told her, "Khai, are you ready to use Slug Fu?"

Khai was confused by his words. "Your twin ancestors had used Slug Fu on the Elementals before. They always obey them and have strong bond towards them. And now... it is your turn to use Slug Fu on the six Elementals," he explained.

Khai nodded as she had understood him. The six Elementals hopped off of Eli's palms and they went over to her. They chirped happily and she smiled at them. She looked at the Air, Water and Fire Elementals.

"Alright. I will name you three... Sora, Kaito and Fiery," Khai named the Air Elemental as Sora, Water Elemental as Kaito, and Fire Elemental as Fiery. The three Elementals cheerfully chirped as they liked their new names.

Khai felt a small tug from below. She looked down and saw a Neotox Slug tugging her leggings. She bent down to see it. Instead of having the main colours of green and bright orange, this Neotox had a yellow body and bright amber on its head. Khai thought it was a Shiny Slug. It chirped as if it's trying to tell her something.

"You wanted to join my arsenal?" Khai asked the Neotox and it instantly nodded in agreement.

"Okay then." She let the Neotox hop onto her right palm and it chirped happily. "I will call you... Remedy. It means cure," she named the Neotox and he smiled at his new name.

Will came up to her and placed his left hand on her right shoulder. "Your bond with your slugs have grown stronger. Like you have a strong bond with Flare, Remedy, and the Elementals. Just like your twin ancestors," he told her.

However, we didn't notice that Dr. Blakk climbed out of the sink hole. He picked up the Goon, who was dying due to lack of ghoul energy. He wanted to leave the ghoul slug to die but since they both had the common goal, he restored the Goon's ghoul powers by supplying him with ghoul energy.

"Take the shot, Blakk!" the Goon told Dr. Blakk to shoot him at Khai, who had all the Elementals. The mad scientist loaded the Goon and aimed his Gattler at her from behind! Will looked behind and saw Dr. Blakk ready to fire the Goon! Will shouted in alarm as we all turned around to see Dr. Blakk, who was going to shoot the Goon at Khai! We instantly shielded her to protect her.

Will rushed towards Dr. Blakk and the Goon. He pushed them into the sink hole! Eli was shocked and horrified! Khai felt the same too when seeing her dad pushed Dr. Blakk and the Goon into the sink hole!

They rushed over the sink hole, calling out to Will. They were about to jumped into it to save him.

"Eli! Khai! No!" Junjie and I stopped them by grabbing onto their shoulders. Their heads faced us. "You must save Slugterra now! While there's still time."

"No! We have to save him!" Eli and Khai protested. They really wanted to save Will Shane.

"Set aside your emotions. Do not fail this world as Junjie and I did ours..." I calmed them down.

"Please, Eli, Khai. It's what your father would want you to do. It is your duty," Junjie added.

With that, Eli and Khai glanced over their shoulders to take a brief look at the sink hole where Will, Dr. Blakk and the Goon had fallen into. Tears were seen in Eli's eyes, while Khai was holding her own tears back. Then, they faced back to Junjie and I.

"Load them up!" Khai said in a serious tone.

Eli loaded Doc, Kord loaded Kaito, Trixie loaded Sora, Pronto loaded Quake, Junjie loaded Fiery, and finally I loaded Flare. For Khai stood before her allies as she was ready to use her Slug Fu. Then, the Shane Gang and I all fired the six Elemental Slugs towards Khai and she did her Slug Fu on them. As she focused, her shooting star and crescent moon pendant glowed brightly. The six Elemental Slugs' bodies glowed brightly as they simultaneously flew throughout Slugterra and restored their beauty.

After that, Khai stopped her Slug Fu as all six Elementals returned to us, back to their protoforms and they landed on her and chirped happily. I came up to her.

"Khai, your Slug Fu is amazing," I complimented.

Khai blushed. "Hehe~ Thank you, Wen Jing-Chan~" she thanked me.

"The Shane Gang just saved Slugterra," Eli declared, "and now, the fourteen of us," Eli let out his hand. Kord, Trixie, Pronto, John, Nate, Roza, Yamu, Zak, Khai, Falcon and Ha-Chan all gathered their hands together. They looked at Junjie and I. We both hesitated for a second and eventually, we placed our hands on top of theirs. "Are gonna save my dad," Eli finished his sentence.

As our mission was completed, we headed back to the Shane Hideout. Then, we heard chirps from one of Khai's slugs. Khai looked down and saw Reiki and Mirage. They were holding something in their tiny hands. There were two keys. The first key was shaped like a heptagon with a Boon Doc at the center and it's made out of an agate gemstone, while the second key was shaped like a heart with a Thugglet at the center and it's made out of a moonstone.

"What are those you have?" Khai asked them. Reiki and Mirage handed the keys to her.

"Hey, Khai. What are they?" I asked her.

"I'm not sure," she replied. "Where you two found these keys?" she asked her Boon Doc and Thugglet. Reiki and Mirage chipped as they said that they found them on the ground. They added that they sensed the magic within the keys.

Khai looked at the keys and wondered where they came from. She decided to figure out later. She placed the two keys into the pocket of her short jeans. Then, we all headed back to the Shane Hideout.


	9. Team JSMN & The Empress Awakens

Hello, sorry for the wait for this chapter. FoxyKhai0209 and I have so many ideas and we are busy working on other stories, new ideas and dealing with our personal stuff too.

Anyway, enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Team JSMN & The Empress Awakens**

Eli and everyone were heading to an abandon lab that was located somewhere in The Jungle Cavern. Rumors said that some people had encountered that place and said it held something mysterious. So we decided to investigate that location.

"Why the abandon lab is so mysterious?" Ha-Chan wondered.

"We will found out soon enough," Trixie told her.

20 minutes later, we arrived the abandon lab. The old building was covered with vines, green mosses, and holes all over. There was a main entrance of that old building. Climbing down our mecha-beasts, we entered through the main entrance of the abandon lab. We walked through a hallway. Inside of it, it had a few webs stretching all over the place.

Ha-Chan shivered in fright when she saw those webs. Suddenly, she was caught by one of the webs! "Waah! Help! Help me!" Ha-Chan cried as she tried to free herself from the web, but the web was so sticky that she could not free herself.

Just then, when she looked up... to her horror, she saw a medium-sized spider coming towards her! "WAAAH! Help me! HELP ME!" Ha-Chan cried and the spider was getting closer to her!

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Ha-Chan and freed her! The spider was squashed by a foot, killing it. "Are you okay, Ha-Chan?" A voice asked and it belonged to Junjie who saved her.

"Y-Yes... I am fine..." she replied with a shaking tone, "What happened to the spider?"

"Don't worry. I squashed it." Yamu answered as he was the one who squashed the spider.

"You're safe now. And be more careful," Junjie said and placed Ha-Chan on his right shoulder.

We continued walking through the hallway. Roza scanned the whole area of the abandon lab's indoor. "This old building was been used for the projects," she informed us.

"What sort of projects?" Kord asked.

"Scientists were experimenting about this cryogenic," Roza answered.

"What is cryogenic?" John questioned.

"In this project, cryogenic puts a person into a deep sleep. He or she will be asleep for many and many years. Their age remain the same as they do not grow older," she explained.

Her explanation shocked us even our slugs. "However, when they wake up from their cryosleep, they have no memory," Roza said.

"Wow... I never knew... about this so called cryogenic can put a person into a deep sleep!" Eli blurted out.

"We agreed," Trixie said as she and the others agreed with Eli.

Continuing on the investigation, we entered an old lab. There were four pods in the center of the lab. Many cable wires were attaching to the pods.

"Are those pods?" Zak asked.

"Yes, there are," Roza answered and did an analysis. "And I believe those are the scientists' test subjects left behind."

"Why do they left their projects behind?" Trixie asked.

"I do not know. I am sorry," Roza apologized.

"That's okay," I said.

Junjie came up to the first pod. The pod's glass was covered with frost and Junjie wiped it off to see what's inside. He saw a man sleeping within the pod. Junjie was shocked as he instantly knew that man: Ja Jung, his cousin!

I came up to him and asked, "What's wrong, Junjie?"

"Ja... Ja Jung..." Junjie stammered as he was staring at his sleeping cousin within the pod.

I looked through the pod's glass and I, too, saw the sleeping Ja Jung inside the pod. I was shocked. "Who... is he?" I asked.

"My cousin... Ja Jung..." Junjie said.

"But... what's he doing here and why he's in there?" I questioned.

Eli and Khai came up to Junjie and I. "What's the matter?" Khai asked them.

"Junjie's cousin is being cryogenic!" Wen Jing explained to Khai, and that shocked her and Eli.

"He's your cousin, Junjie?" Eli asked and Junjie nodded in reply.

"Is there a way to wake him up along with the other three people?" Junjie asked Roza.

"There is. We need to find a control panel to open the pods. If it's function enough," Roza said.

We looked around to find the control panel to open the pods to wake Ja Jung and the other three people up. Pronto spotted a computer and walked up to it. He looked all the buttons and he saw a blue button glowing. The Molenoid pressed the glowing blue button. The four pods began to open as white mist came out of the pods. When it was cleared, we could see Junjie's cousin and the other three people stepped out of their pods.

"Where... are we...?" The man, Ja Jung, questioned as he looked around the surroundings.

Ja Jung looked like an older version of Junjie. He had a grayish-blue waist-length hair that was tied into a French braid. He had emerald green eyes and his skin was fair. He wore a light gray hooded robe around his shoulders, white t-shirt with one gold shoulder pad on his right shoulder, gray jeans with a black belt, one silver knee pad on his left knee, black and gold fingerless gloves, and gray and silver shoes. He was quite tall too.

A beautiful woman came out from the second pod. She had pixie blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a green polo t-shirt with white rose petals as details, dark lime green scarf around her neck, jet black elbow pads, pure white jeans with a chine belt, light green gloves, and chocolate brown ankle boots. Her height was the same as Ja Jung.

Another man came from the third pod. He had jet black shoulder-length hair, two pair of black wolf ears on top of his head, and yellow eyes. He wore a dark brown hooded robe, chocolate brown shirt, brown and gray fingerless gloves, brown jeans with a chine belt, and black and brown boots. His height was average.

Another beautiful woman came from the fourth pod. She had a pale blonde hair that was shoulder-length and violet eyes. She wore a gray and white corset with feather designs, gray denim pants with white designs, a white belt on her waist, white sneakers and black soles. She also wore black wraps in both of her hands and a matching black armband on her left. Her outfit was an obvious nod to the Lolita fashion style.

"Where the heck are we?" the first woman asked.

"You are all in an abandon lab. And we are the ones who wake you four up," Khai explained.

"Who are you all?" Yamu asked them.

"Uh... I am Ja Jung," Junjie's cousin introduced himself. "Right here is my wife Samantha May. These two are our teammates: Marcuse Jay and Nina March." Ja Jung introduced his wife and teammates. Then, he spotted Junjie. He pulled a surprise expression when he saw him. "Junjie? Is that you?"

"Yes, Ja Jung. It is me," Junjie said.

"You looked... the same since I last saw you," Ja Jung said.

"And you looked a bit different since I last saw you," Junjie replied. That's when he realized something. "Wait. You have a wife already?"

"Yes. It's Samantha. She's my wife," Ja Jung answered.

"Yeah. We're married and have a baby girl name Xiu Juan," Samantha said with a lovely smile. Junjie was so shocked to hear that!

"Yup. Xiu Juan is a cute baby girl," Marcuse stated.

"Yeah. We, Team JSMN, took care Xiu Juan and taught her about slugs, and Ja Jung taught her how to do Slug Fu," Nina added.

"Team JSMN? Is that your team name?" Khai questioned. They all nodded. "I see now."

"My cousin, how you and your teammates were put to cryogenic sleep?" Junjie questioned.

"I... cannot remember how," Ja Jung replied.

"Neither do we," his teammates added.

"But at least you all are okay and finally awaken from your long sleep," Eli stated.

After Team JSMN had awakened, Ja Jung and his teammates found their blasters that were kept in a dusty chest.

"There is another pod in lab 2," Roza informed us. So we decided to go there.

Once we arrived there, there was another pod in the middle of the lab. We all approached it and could see a silhouette within the pod. The silhouette looked like a figure of a woman.

"Who is it?" Kord wondered.

I saw a control panel beside the pod's right side. I went to it and pressed a blue button. The pod began to open as white mist came out of it. Once it was cleared, a woman stepped out of the pod she was in.

Her appearance resembled that of a white Japanese empress. This woman was a very beautiful woman. She had a long black hair with a full fringe and was tied in a large Japanese bun. She had brown eyes and a mole on her bottom right eye.

She wore a white short sleeved traditional kimono dress with a red rope tied in each side of her shoulders and a red ribbon attached on the back on her shirt which was connected to the red rope, and a gray diamond designed obi which was tucked into her kimono dress. She had an off-white traditional kimono dress which was tied in a white karate belt on her waist and both sleeves of the kimono dress were hanging loose with flower designs in the sleeves and skirt of her dress. She also wore a pair of white and red fingerless gauntlets with a golden shell design tied in red ribbons in each side underneath her arm and wrists. The interior of her off-white kimono dress was red. She also wore a white tabi which was tied in red ribbons and a traditional Japanese geta. At the back of her hair, which was just above the nape, she wore a kanzashi shaped like a gold phoenix.

We were awed to see her. Junjie, on the other hand, had a very shocking expression upon his face as he recognized that beautiful woman. "What's wrong, Jun?" I asked. That's when I heard his whisper, "M-Mother...?"

I was very shocked when I heard that. That woman that was awakened from her sleep... was Junjie's mother! The woman turned around and saw us, but her eyes were laid on Junjie. "Junjie? Is that you, my beloved son?" she asked.

Without hesitation, Junjie ran up to his long-lost mother and hugged her. "Mother! I thought the Emperor killed you when I was the Dark Slinger!" Junjie told her as he was sobbing a bit.

Eli then cut in and questioned, "Junjie... who is this woman?"

"I am Megumi, the Empress of The Eastern Caverns," the woman introduced herself.

Everyone was shocked to hear that, except Team JSMN as they already knew her. Though, they did show a mix of shock and surprise expressions when they saw Megumi again. The Empress of The Eastern Caverns was right in front of our eyes!

Eli, Khai, and the others did not know that Junjie had a mother! I could not believe that I really met Megumi, the mother of Junjie for the first time. I was instantly nervous to see her.

"What are your names?" Megumi asked us in a kind way. One by one, all of us introduced ourselves to Megumi, except Team JSMN since Megumi knew them already.

"Lovely names you have, my dears," she said. She then turned to me. She noticed the nervous expression upon my face and she knew that I was very nervous.

"There is no need to be nervous, my dear child," Megumi said in a gentle tone, "Calm yourself."

I took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. Ja Jung came up to his aunt. "Megumi, why are you here?" he asked.

"I... had no memory of what happened to me... and why I am here. All I remember is that I fought the Emperor before everything went black," Megumi answered.

"Anyway, I am very happy to see you again, mother," Junjie said.

"I am happy too when I see you again, my son," Megumi replied.

After that, we exited out the abandon lab. We led Team JSMN and Megumi to my home cavern.


	10. The Return of The Empress

**Chapter 10: The Return of The Empress**

After freeing Team JSMN and Megumi from cryogenic sleep, we were heading to the Cavern of the Last East. I felt uneasy when Megumi was with me and others because she was the Empress of The Eastern Caverns. Though, Megumi insisted because she wanted to see my cavern.

Once we reached my cavern, it was evening. "Hey, Wen Jing, we should give them a tour around your cavern," Eli suggested.

"Uh... o-okay..." I stammered in fear.

"Don't be scared, my dear," Megumi comforted me.

So I gave them a tour, with Khai and the Shane Gang following me. The people of the Cavern of the Last East were shocked to see the Empress of The Eastern Caverns. They too thought she was dead after Junjie became The Dark Slinger. They greeted her with a mix of shock and surprise. Megumi greeted back kindly.

When the tour was over, it was close to night. Megumi decided to stay in my house, which further shocked me. I felt even more uneasy about it. Team JSMN also decided to stay in my cavern. Khai gave them a magical tent, which was set outside of my house. Team JSMN thanked Khai and went inside the tent, which was surprisingly big on the inside.

When Megumi, Khai and I entered my house, my family were wondering who the woman was and they asked us. Khai and I explained about Megumi to them, saying that she was the Empress of The Eastern Caverns and the Phoenix.

My family were at first skeptical about Megumi. Megumi pulled out a disapproved expression upon her face. They said that it was a joke that she was the Empress and that the phoenix was only a myth. I became very frightened as Megumi would be quite mad when they said that.

"A joke means that you all are skeptical. You do not realize that I am an Empress right here before your eyes and you are talking to her... is me," Megumi spoke wise words to my family. My family pulled out shocking expressions and were immediately silent by her words. She had indeed proven herself as the real Empress!

"Empress Megumi wants to stay here," I said.

"Yes, yes. We will find a room for your highness," my aunts replied.

A few moments later, my family found a room and they cleaned it up. They wanted to make sure that she was satisfied after they had insulted her.

Once it was done, Megumi entered the room and examined it. To all of our relief, she was satisfied. She told Khai and I to take a bath. After a refreshing bath, we had dinner. Megumi helped Khai and my aunts in the cooking. After a good dinner, we brushed our teeth and went to do our stuffs in our rooms. Megumi came to us later and told us to sleep early. We obeyed her. I did not like to sleep early but I chose to obey the Empress in fear that I would provoke her.

The next day, Khai, Megumi and I were out in the early morning. Megumi decided to see all the people in the Cavern of the Last East. Everyone warmly greeted their Empress when they saw her. Megumi was pleased to them.

"Your people are working very hard today, Wen Jing," Megumi said to me.

"Well, my people have a lot of business to do, just like my uncle, aunt and two older cousins," I explained. Megumi understood my explanations.

Then, she remembered something. "May I ask if Master Wu is still around?" she asked me. Her question made me sad when she mentioned my master's name.

Megumi noticed my sudden change in expression. Then, she realized. "I see... So he finally passed away?" I slowly nodded in reply and said, "Master Wu was my master and he taught me about slugs and others."

"I see. And I am very sorry for the loss of your master. He is very old as I had met him since I was younger." Megumi said and that really caught the attentions of Khai and I.

"When did you meet my master before me? And how long he lived before he died?" I asked her.

"Master Wu had been around about centuries," Megumi explained. "And when I met him, I was quite young. I met him at my old home cavern before I was married to the Eastern Champion." She then told us about Master Wu, who had taught her a lot of things that she never knew before. We were awed to hear that about Master Wu. Yet, we were also shocked when we realized that Master Wu had lived for centuries.

"So... do you know about... Master Wu's long life?" I questioned her.

"I do not know about Master Wu's life. Just only the brief history about him," Megumi told me.

Later, Megumi decided to visit Master Wu's grave. When we arrived there, Megumi prayed Master Wu with respect. When she was done, she turned to us.

"Master Wu was my master... and he was so fatherly to me..." I told her.

"I had thought of that as well when I met him since I was young," Megumi said.

She placed her hand on my head. "You are a special child, Wen Jing," she told me, "because I can sense it within you as I knew that your future will someday shine through the dark."

I was surprised by her motherly words. I knew that my mother abandoned me since I was three but now Megumi was so motherly than my mother.

"I promise to you that I will be there for you. As long as we're close to each other," Megumi promised me. That made me smile. Seeing the mother and daughter relationship before Khai and her slugs, Khai smiled at that scene as it reminded her of the close relationship between her and her mother.


	11. Great Talents

**Chapter 11: Great Talents**

It's afternoon in The 99 Caverns. At the Shane Hideout, Khai and I were visiting our allies. Khai was cooking lunch while the others and I were in the living room doing some stuffs. Then, Trixie came in. Eli noticed her, however, he did not recognize her because her short pigtails were now long pigtails.

"Who are you?" The Shane asked, which made the whole gang giggle.

"Really, Eli? Don't you recognize me?" Trixie questioned him, slightly annoyed.

"Oh! It's you, Trixie!" Eli realized it's her. The whole gang burst out laughing at his surprised reaction.

"Dude, you really don't recognize Trix?" Kord laughed.

"Uh, because her hair is... different. That's why I don't recognize her," Eli said.

"Trixie, what happened to your hair?" I questioned her.

"Aqua Droplet has made my hair long and it suits me," she explained.

"Your new hairstyle looks so girly," Nate blurted out.

"Well, at least my new hairstyle is greater than my old hairstyle," she defended.

"Lunch is ready!" Khai called out. As we gather in the dinner room, she was surprised to see Trixie's new hairstyle.

"Your AquaBeek has made my old short pigtails into long pigtails," Trixie explained.

"You look great with your new hairstyle!" Khai said.

When we finished our lunch, the Shane Gang was checking the computer if there's any problems. Khai, Zak, Yamu, Falcon and I were sitting on the sofa. Khai was checking out her high-tech tablet while we watched. She had received a message from Elke as she read the message. Elke's message said that Marinatopia was looking fine, and there were no troubles or any dark magic causing chaos, which made her sigh in delight. Nothing happened to her home cavern after all the chaos that she and her team had been through because of Torch Flame. Suddenly, she thought about the Black Fang, so she typed a reply message to Elke, asking of any news about the Black Fang. She then sent it to Elke and waited for her reply.

All of the sudden, small amber stars appeared, floating in the air. "Where do these stars come from?" Trixie questioned in a surprise tone. The slugs began to chase the stars as they were admiring the twinkle lights from the stars.

Ha-Chan was also admiring the stars. A star came towards her and she got it. Suddenly, the star popped, much to her surprise. Then, Eli appeared from upstairs in his Charmix Mode. The Shane was the one creating the stars.

"What are you doing, Eli?" Trixie asked.

"I am having a little fun with my Charmix Mode," Eli replied.

All of the sudden, we heard a crash coming from the garage. "What was that?" Pronto asked, feeling surprised when he heard the crash.

We entered the garage and saw Burpy Sunburst laying on the garage's floor. It turned out that Burpy had tripped over a tool box. Burpy was groaning in pain.

Eli came up to his human Infurnus. "Burpy! Are you okay?" he asked as he helped him up.

"I'm okay... but I have difficulty on walking my human legs..." Burpy responded.

"Walking is simple," John said to Burpy.

"Just like my slugs, Wen Jing's slugs, and the Shane Gang's slugs when they are in human forms," Khai added.

"I already get that, but my human form is difficult to control... Especially my arms, hands, and fingers," Burpy complained.

Suddenly, Bluster Typhoon came rushing into the garage. "Bluster, what's wrong?" Trixie asked her favourite slug, who was in his human form.

"Check out the work of Stunts Amaze!" he told us.

"Stunts Amaze?" Eli said in surprise. Bluster led us outside and went to a place where the Shane Gang used to train and duel. When we arrived there, we saw a teenage boy working on a canvas with colourful paints and sprayers.

He wore a red-orange t-shirt with a picture of a Speedstinger on the center, a pair of pale orange arm warmer on both of his arms, silvery-white jeans, a pair of yellow goggles on top of his head, and silvery-white shoes. His hair was gray with red-orange ombre on the tips of his hair and it was shoulder-length. His skin tone was red-orange and he had a pair of light blue eyes.

Once he's finished with his canvas, we saw it was a painting of a view of Slugterra! We were amazed to see his amazing artwork. Trixie came up to the painting. "Your paint work is amazing," Trixie praised him.

"Thank you," the teenager with red-orange skin thanked her.

"So you must be Stunts Amaze," Kord guessed.

"Yeah, that's my name," Stunts Amaze replied.

Eli then realized that Stunts Amaze was... his Speedstinger! "Hey, are you really Stunts the Speedstinger?" The Shane asked him.

"Yes, yes I am," he answered. That stunned Eli.

"How are you able to change into human?" Trixie was puzzled.

"I had my first lesson with Flare, Khai's Infurnus. I earned my first ability to change form into human and return back to my slug form," he explained.

Then, Loki Rose appeared. Loki saw Stunts' artwork and he was impressed to see his art skills. Even I was impressed as well.

All of the sudden, Stunts' body glowed in a red-orange aura. That surprised us and we backed away a bit. Then, Stunts' shoulder-length hair grew longer and was tied into a high French bride ponytail, acting like his tail. He also grew two light gray horns on the sides of his head similar to a Mega Morphed Speedstinger.

The Shane Gang and I were awed to see his sudden change. Then, Flare Flamehaze came in. "Congratulations, Stunts Amaze! Your great talent has helped you to gain your very own Slug Up Form!" she stated. Stunts was a little shocked but happy when he gained his own Slug Up Form for the first time.

"Flare, how Stunts managed to gain his Slug Up Form?" I asked.

"When a slug gains an ability to change form into a human, he or she will show their great talents while in human form. Once they improve their talents, he or she gains their Slug Up Form, which allows them to gain magical powers. It also gives them ability to do the same abilities like his or her slug counterpart," Flare told us, baffling the Shane Gang and I.

Suddenly, Glace Polaris approached us. "Hey, everyone! Arachne S. Artiest has an amazing talent right now!" she announced.

"Who is this Arachne S. Artiest?" Roza was puzzled.

Glace led us to another area, where the Shane Gang also used for training and dueling. There, we saw a teenage girl sculpturing a big rock. She wore a light purple midriff shirt with a picture of an Arachnet on the center, pale purple min-skirt with patterns of cobwebs, and violet sandals. Her elbow-length hair was purple with pale violet streaks all over it. She had a pair of purple eyes and purple skin. This girl must be Arachne S. Artiest.

"What is she doing with the big rock?" Kord wondered.

"Arachne is sculpturing it," Glace answered.

"How does Arachne learn sculpturing?" I questioned in surprise.

"She is giving a try to discover her talent," Glace said.

When Arachne finished sculpturing the rock, we noticed that on the rock's surface was a curve of the Shane Gang. We were impressed by her amazing sculpture!

"WOW! That is the coolest sculpture I've ever seen!" Kord exclaimed happily. Trixie took out her camera and snapped a picture of her sculpture art.

I went up to Arachne. "Your sculpture is amazing, Arachne," I praised her.

"Thank you~" Arachne shyly thanked me and suddenly, her body glowed in a violet aura.

Her elbow-length hair grew longer and was tied into a high ponytail, acting like her tail. She also grew two blue-violet antennas on the sides of her head as her ears similar to a Mega Morphed Arachnet. Amazed at Arachne's sudden transformation, she had just gained her own Slug Up Form, like what Flare had said.

Later, Trixie was back in the Shane Hideout and was on the computer. She was researching about Marinatopia's history as she had grown interested in Khai's cavern. Suddenly, the computer screen went fuzzy. Trixie groaned in annoyance as something's wrong with the computer. Suddenly, she spotted something within the computer.

Inside the computer was a slug that Trixie had never seen it before. Its body was made out of digital data. The main colours of its body were pastel green and steel blue for its belly. It also had a pair of emerald green eyes. It had short antennas as they were coloured emerald green. Trixie wondered what it was and how a slug could get inside the computer.

The new slug suddenly jumped out of the computer screen and landed on the desk right in front of Trixie, which really surprised her. She greeted the new slug and it greeted back with a chirp. She began to wonder what kind of new slug it was.

Trixie saw Khai walking by the living room. "Hey, Khai! Come over!" she immediately called her.

"What is it?" Khai asked as she went to her direction.

"Look at what I found!" Trixie showed the new slug to her. "What slug is this?"

Khai stared at the new slug and instantly knew this new slug: a Voltlec. "This new slug is a Voltlec," she told her. "Where did you get it?"

"It suddenly appeared inside the computer I was using. Then, it jumped out of the computer screen," Trixie responded.

"A Voltlec slug is a Digital Slug as it can enter any technologies and machines," she explained about Voltlec's abilities. Trixie was awestruck by it. "It can even hack, steal, and control all technologies and machines."

Trixie looked at the Voltlec as it stared at her. "This Voltlec would like to be in your team. And the Voltlec is a female," Khai stated.

"Would like to join my team?" Trixie asked the Voltlec and it immediately nodded. "So... I will name you... Marsa."

2 hours later, the Limax, Kalt, and Chaleur Gangs were outside the Shane Hideout as they are playing a game called Slugbase. It was like baseball. We were at the sideline, watching their game. Arthur Excalibur was the ball thrower, while Jinjin Stella, my Armashelt, was the batter and she was preparing to swing the bat.

She wore a blue midriff shirt with a picture of an Armashelt on the center, two blue and orange wrist bands, orange jeans with a black belt and blue boots. Her elbow-length hair was orange with blue streaks all over it. She had blue skin and a pair of light blue eyes.

"Okay! Get ready Jinjin!" Arthur yelled as he was ready to throw the ball. "This game is gonna be over!" Jinjin steadied her bat and took a deep breath as she was ready.

"Alright! Here we go!" Arthur was now ready to throw the ball. "Take this! Knighton Explosion Ball!" He threw the ball very hard and was heading straight towards Jinjin! As the speedy ball was getting close to her, her body suddenly glowed in a blue aura.

Her elbow-length hair became longer and was tied into a high ponytail with an orange ribbon as an accessory. She grew two green-yellow antennas or horns on the sides of her head as her ears, similar to a Mega Morphed Armashelt.

"Let's hit it! Bring it on!" Jinjin shouted as she hit the ball with the bat! The ball then flew off in a very high speed and it was gone. It was a home run!

Arthur pulled an enormous shocking expression upon his face when his rival really hit the ball hard! The rest of us were shocked too, along with our slugs.

"It's a home run!" Eli exclaimed in joy.

"Dude! That was... that was intense!" Kord blurted out with shock.

"Eh... Amazing..." Pronto was speechless.

"Jinjin, how did you do that?" Junjie questioned her.

"Well... I felt more energy that seemed to have... powered me up," Jinjin explained.

"Anyway, good game," Junjie praised.

"Woohoo! That was awesome!" Yamu shouted.

"Amazing home run!" Zak yelled.

"Jinjin Stella really hits it hard!" Nate exclaimed with a chuckle.

"Oh gosh... What a strong swung," John blurted out, due to his shock.

"You said it, dude," Falcon agreed with him.

"Ha~! Amazing, amazing, amazing~!" Ha-Chan cheered.

"What a fantastic home run!" Khai said, "Jinjin Stella has the talent of sports!"

"And gain her Slug Up Form!" Wen Jing added in amazement.

"And I caught that in my camera!" Trixie said.

"Me too. In my robotic eyes," Roza added.

Our slugs cheered like they were cheerleaders. Arthur, on the other hand, collapsed onto his knees. "I-It can't be! Not like this... the embarrassment..." he muttered as he was so embarrassed.

After the Slugbase, Arthur was still embarrassed. He was comforted by other members of Kalt Gang. Giggle Happy was playing soft tone with her guitar, while all of us were doing some exercise. Burpy came in and he was feeling stressed.

"Burpy! Are you okay? You look like you're out of juice!" Giggle exclaimed.

"Yeah... I feel stressful because it's so difficult to control my human form..." Burpy said.

"Here, try playing my guitar! It could help you to relax," Giggle suggested as she gave him her guitar.

"Hmm... okay," Burpy sighed. He rocked out with the guitar suddenly, surprising us and our slugs. It lasted for around 10 seconds. Our hairs went outwards.

"Much better~" he sighed in a relaxed tone. He returned the guitar to Giggle Happy and walked away. Giggle's hair suffered the same condition as us.

"Wow... he rocks very hard," Kord blurted out in a mixture of shock and amazement.

Later, it was 5 o'clock in the evening. Burpy was talking to Flare about his difficulties in his human form. "Oh, come now, Burpy. I know it's hard for you being a human," Flare comforted him.

"Yeah... I've tried as I can but... nothing happens," Burpy sighed. His tone filled with stress.

Flare was thinking of a way to cheer her boyfriend up. Then, an idea popped out of her mind. "I know. How about you go for a flight race?" She suggested to Burpy.

"Flight race?" Burpy was curious about it.

"Yeah. You can race by flying in the air and race with someone," Flare said.

Burpy thought about it. "Sure. Okay, I'll try," he agreed moments later.

10 minutes later, at the Shane Hideout, we all gathered and prepared the flight race for Burpy. Once everything is prepare, Burpy questioned, "Who will challenge me in a flight race?"

Then, a guy stepped up as he volunteered to join the flight race with him. He wore a teal t-shirt with a picture of a Hoverbug on the center, white jeans with a chain belt, blue fingerless gloves, and teal boots. His short hair was teal with blue, purple and white streaks all over it. His had white skin and a pair of brown eyes. "I am Cloudy Whirlwind, and I will challenge Burpy in this flight race," he introduced himself.

As they both prepared for the race, the duo changed into their Slug Up Forms. Cloudy's appearance remained the same, but his hair grew longer and was tied into a low ponytail as if it's like his tail. He also grew two teal antennas on the sides of his head as his ears similar to a Mega Morphed Hoverbug, and a pair of teal wings on his back. Burpy's appearance remained the same, but his hair grew longer and was tied into a low ponytail as if it's like his tail. He also grew two orange antennas on the sides of his head as his ears similar to a Mega Morphed Infurnus, and a pair of orange wings on his back.

"Are you ready?" Giggle Happy asked as she was going to start the flight race. She was raising a pistol gun. "Get set... GO!" Giggle pressed the trigger of the pistol gun and it gave off a slight bang. It turned out that the pistol gun was not real, but actually a toy pistol gun.

With the flight race began, Burpy and Cloudy took off into the air. "Go, Burpy! GO!" Eli exclaimed, cheering his human Infurnus. As Burpy and Cloudy raced against each other, Cloudy flew very fast, faster than Burpy. Burpy tried his best to catch up to him as he sped up his flight. The duo then went around a huge tree and flew back to the Shane Hideout. Cloudy was still in first place and Burpy was still in second place. Burpy once again tried to catch up with Cloudy as he increased his speed when something unexpected happened.

Burpy released a massive bright orange shockwave, which helped him to speed up extremely fast! We were all baffled to see Burpy's incredible flight speed and he passed by Cloudy and reached the finished line as he won! We cheered but it was short-lived as Burpy crashed into the Shane Hideout!

We gasped and ran towards the hideout. Burpy had crash landed in the living room and he was on the sofa, upside down. Burpy groaned in pain as he sat up from the sofa. We all rushed into the living room and saw him sitting on the sofa, rubbing his head at the back after he crashed in.

"Burpy! You okay?" Eli asked concernedly as he quickly went to him.

"I'm okay..." Burpy replied. "What happened?"

Cloudy came into the living room. "You just unleashed a powerful sonic blast, which helped you to fly very fast!" Cloudy explained.

Burpy was stunned by the new discovery. "You have a talent, Burpy! You are a Flight Racer!" Flare told him.

"Oh, wow! That is awesome!" Burpy exclaimed in joy as he flew midair.

"You know, your super flight would be called as Sonic Burstboom," Cloudy suggested, which made Burpy satisfied.

As night fell, Burpy and Flare were alone in the woods not too far from the Shane Hideout. There was silence between them until Flare broke it. "Burpy, are you still having trouble with your human form?" she asked.

"Uh, I think not. I think I am getting use to my human form," Burpy replied. "Well... still have a little problem with my legs though," he added, pointing his legs.

"I was like that before," Flare told him. "If you believe in yourself, it'll help you to quickly control your human form, just like how I did."

"Ah, I see." Burpy muttered. "But does it mean to keep control our powers? You know? Similar to our protoform abilities when in our true forms?"

"Actually, that's quite different," Flare said, which made Burpy to look at her with a confused expression. "You see, it is true that we have similar abilities just like our slug form. But in human form, when we Slug Up, our powers and abilities grow stronger and we gain new powers and abilities. Like you, you earned a special power and ability of your flight, in which you can go fast, like the one you raced with Cloudy."

Burpy was shocked to hear that. "Oh, wow. That's... amazing," he blurted out.

There was silence again. Then, Burpy broke it. "Hey, Flare?" he asked her.

"Yes?" Flare asked back.

"Uh... I was thinking about something to say," Burpy said.

"What is it?" she asked again.

That's when Burpy moved closer to her face. The couple shared a romantic kiss and broke the kiss a few seconds later.

"I love you," Burpy whispered to his girlfriend.

"I love you too," Flare whispered back as the duo hugged.

Their love and relationship grew stronger since then.


	12. Postmortem Photography

**Chapter 12: Postmortem Photography**

It was afternoon in The 99 Caverns. At the Shane Hideout, the Shane Gang was doing their things. Khai and I visited them this morning and hung out with them. Just then, we heard a doorbell being rung. Khai went to the main door and opened it. Outside the door was a man.

The man looked like Will Shane. He had fair skin and brown hair that had the same hairstyle as Will Shane. He wore a white polo shirt base layer, sky blue vest underneath his polo shirt base layer, pale blue oval-frame glasses, blue jeans, and navy blue shoes.

Khai was surprised to see him and she thought that he was Will Shane. However, this man was actually different. "Uh, who are you?" she questioned the lookalike Will.

"I'm Felix Hojo," he introduced himself.

"What's going on?" I came in and asked.

"Wen Jing, this is Felix Hojo," she introduced the man to me.

"Oh, hi. I thought you are Will Shane," I was surprised to see him.

Felix chuckled. "I was an old friend of Will Shane," he said. We were surprised to hear that.

"So... why are you here?" she wondered.

"I have a request to find an old album that is filled with photos of deceased people," he explained.

"Why you want that album for?" I questioned.

"The album is really important for my studies," he answered.

"Sure, I can find the album for you," she accepted. "Wen-Wen, would you like to join me to search for the album?"

"Okay," I accepted too and turned to Felix. "Where is the album?"

"At the old inn. It is located at Deadweed Cavern," he told us.

"What?! No!" I was shocked and nervous to go there.

"I have heard of this Deadweed Cavern. It's very scary cavern in The 99 Caverns," she stated.

"Even after the Deadweed Miners are back to normal... I still don't wanna go there... it's still scary..." I stammered.

"It's gonna be fine as long as you are with me," she comforted me and turned to face Felix. "Felix, we will find the album for you."

"Thank you. I will pick it up by tomorrow afternoon once you two found it," he was delighted. After that, he left and headed back home.

Then, Eli and Junjie came up to us. "Who was it?" Eli was curious.

"It's Felix Hojo, and he looked pretty much like your father," Khai replied.

"Really?" Eli was surprised to hear that fact.

"What does Felix want?" Junjie questioned.

"Wen-Wen and I are going to find the old album that Felix requested. It is in the old inn located at Deadweed Cavern," she explained. "We are going there now."

"It is quite dangerous if you two go to Deadweed Cavern," Junjie warned us.

"We will be fine, Junjie. There's no need to worry about," she assured. With that, Khai and I hopped onto our mechas and drove to Deadweed Cavern.

"Khai, this place may have ghosts... though those are rumors as the Deadweed Miners were ghosts due to exposure of Dark Water. Now it's sealed, they are back to normal. But... just in case... I'm frightened..." I told her as we were on our way.

"There is nothing to be afraid of, Wen-Wen," she said. "The Camera Obscura will be very useful as it has effect against evil spirits."

"Hey, Khai, could you teach how to use the Camera Obscura? Since I was very curious about it and... how did you do it during the time we were in the Manor of Sleep in the dream world, along with Junjie's camera," I asked.

 _If I teach her, she would be able to defend herself from the ghosts._ She thought. "Okay! I will teach you on how to use the Camera Obscura," she agreed.

After two to three hours, we arrived at Deadweed Cavern. The cavern looked awfully scary and spooky. The woods was dark and covered by fog. The trees grew in eerie shapes and there were bats flying around. Our slugs shivered in fright upon our arrival.

"So... where is the abandoned inn?" I wondered.

"According to my high-tech tablet, it said that the abandoned inn is located a few distance away from the mines," she said. "There were some info about that inn as somebody owned it before. But the owner of the inn died as he killed himself due to his unexpected sickness that drove him mad. It also said that his soul haunts the inn."

"WWWAAAHHH! I DON'T WANT TO GO IN THERE!" I screamed fearfully.

"Wen Jing, don't be scared. I'm here," she comforted me, trying to calm me down. Then, we headed to the abandoned inn.

When we made it there, we noticed the inn was badly damaged and was covered with moss almost all over its walls. "Wow. This inn looks totally abandoned," she blurted out.

"Tell me about it..." I said, slightly scared.

We both got off our mechas and headed to the main entrance of the inn. Instead of having double doors, the entrance had a medium-sized door. She turned to me. "Okay. Let's begin with a little practice with the Camera Obscura," she told me as she took out the camera and handed to me.

"Alright. This is your first case: finding an old album in this inn," she began to explain about the camera. "The Camera Obscura can help you by finding a clue and fight against a ghost. When you look through the camera's lens, the lens will glow in soft blue as it reacts to the object you are aiming. Press the button of the camera to take a shot. And if you are fighting an evil ghost, aim it and shot it multiple times as you can before it attacks you. When the ghost gets very weak, press the button longer then release it as the camera will unleash a powerful white flash. Once the ghost is defeated, it will turn into a small white sphere and then make a small explosion in a white flash. A photo will pop out of the camera as the ghost is sealed away within the photo. The camera will make strange noises and vibrations as it reacts to something nearby. It can also react if there is a ghost nearby as a warning by making a violent vibration. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand now," I responded, finally understood her explanation.

"Good. Now let's being the search," she said as we entered the inn.

The interior of the inn was badly damaged as there were a few holes on the walls and ceilings. "Go ahead, Wen Jing. I'll be right behind you," Khai told me.

I walked ahead while she followed me behind. We walked down the old hallway and then climbed upstairs. Khai suddenly stopped her track as she sensed something. "Wait, Wen Jing," she called out to me.

"What?" I asked.

"I sense something," she answered in a low tone.

"What is it?"

"Use the camera."

I lifted the camera up to the eye level. Through the lens of the camera, I saw a white figure walked by me, which scared me and I nearly dropped the camera.

"It's okay, Wen Jing. It is just a 'trace'. It allows us to see the trace of the person that once lived here from the past, and can lead us to the album we are looking for," she told me.

"A-Alright..." I replied, whimpering.

We followed the trace and it led us to a lock door. I tried to turn the doorknob open but I could not. "It's locked. We need a key to open it," I said.

"Try using the Camera Obscura. It'll help us to find the key's hidden location," Khai suggested.

I lifted the camera to my eye level and aimed at the doorknob. The lens glowed in soft blue as it reacted to the doorknob. I took a shot of it and a photo popped out from the camera. I took a look at the photo. Strangely, the photo showed an old office room, not the doorknob.

Khai looked at the photo and she knew that place was where the hidden key was. "The key should be in that office. Let's go and find it," she said to me. We rushed to the old office to find the key that had been kept there.

When we were there, we searched the key everywhere. Our slugs helped us to search for the key too. Reiki, Khai's Mega Morphed Boon Doc, opened the desk's drawer and went inside. There were many old papers inside the drawer. Then, Reiki caught something in her eye: a rusty key and a silver lens. She picked up the two items, exited out the drawer and gave Khai the items.

"Thank you for finding the key, Reiki," Khai thanked her and she kept the sliver lens into her magical belt bag.

So we went back to the locked door and unlocked it with the rusty key. However, once we entered the room, we found that it was empty. There was nothing inside this room.

"There's nothing here, Khai," I told her.

"I dunno. I sense the album somewhere in this room," she said. "However, you cannot see it as it is invisible. Try using the Camera Obscura. It can make it visible."

"Okay...?" I responded with an uneasy tone. I lifted the camera up to my eyes and scanned the empty room. When I looked down with the camera still in my eyes, the lens of the camera glowed in soft blue as it reacted to something that wasn't there. I was about to take a photo.

"Wen Jing, wait," Khai stopped me for a moment. "If you want the invisible item to be visible... you have to zoom in a bit. Press the button a bit longer then release it as it made a blue flash. Then, invisible item will be revealed."

Following her instruction, I zoomed in a bit, pressed the button longer, and then released it. A blue flash was emitted from the camera. The invisible item became visible, revealing itself. It was actually an old album laying on the floor. I lowered down the camera to look at the album. I was shocked to see it as it had become visible with the help of the camera's supernatural powers.

Khai picked up the old album and opened its cover. The album was filled with photos of deceased people from centuries ago. "This is the one we're looking for," she told me. "Great work." She smiled at me as I had done well on using her camera.

"Thanks. And thank you for teaching me how to use the camera," I thanked her.

Now our mission was accomplished, we headed back to the inn's main entrance to exit. Khai passed by a nearby open door and I was following her behind. I was about to pass by the open door when suddenly, the camera vibrated violently as it reacted to something nearby - something dangerous.

All of the sudden... a ghost merged from the open door, moaning in rage! I screamed in horror when I saw the ghost in reality! My slugs screamed as well! Our screams caught Khai's attention, so did her slugs. They were shocked to see the ghost was advancing towards me and my slugs!

"Wen Jing! Use the camera, it'll help you!" Khai told me and without hesitation, I immediately lifted the camera to my eye level and took a shot of the ghost. The bright flash produced from the camera hit the ghost's face and he screamed in agony, then faded away. I thought I got it but the photo did not pop out. Suddenly, ghostly hands emerged from the wall and they grabbed me!

"WEN JING!" Khai screamed my name in horror! I managed to lose their grips and rushed to her. The ghostly man appeared again as he rushed towards us! I speedily took a few more shots at him. He started to feel weak after being hit by multiple shots from the camera.

I took the chance as I pressed the button longer and then released it, creating a powerful white flash. The ghost screamed in anguish and he turned into a small white sphere and then made a small explosion in a white flash. A photo popped out of the camera as he was sealed away in the photo.

After the incident, I collapsed to my knees and dropped the camera as I felt so terrified of what just happened. Khai went up to me from behind. She knelt down and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, hugging me.

"I'm sorry... I-I shouldn't let you come with me..." she apologized to her dear friend as she tried to calm me down. "I shouldn't get you to involve in this... There are many dead people and ghosts almost all over Slugterra..."

"Wen Jing? Khai?" someone called out from the inn's main entrance. To Khai's relief, it was Eli. The Shane Gang went into the inn and found us.

"There they are!" Pronto exclaimed.

"You girls okay? You two have been away for so long and we are worried!" John said.

"Khai!" Trixie called out and gasped when she saw me unconscious. "What happened to Wen Jing?" she asked.

"Wen Jing!" Junjie yelled and he held me.

"Why is she unconscious?" Nate wondered.

"No time for that. We need to get her back to the hideout," Junjie suggested as he carried me, while Khai took the camera.

"Yeah... This place gives me the creeps," Kord agreed.

So, the Shane Gang and Khai returned to the hideout as quick as possible. They placed me on the sofa to rest while they tried not to disturb me. Hours later, I finally opened my eyes as I regained consciousness.

"Uuuggghhhh..." I groaned as I turned my head.

Junjie noticed that I was awake. "Wen Jing," he said as he came up to me. "Are you okay? What happened back there at the inn?"

I felt a bit shy when he was concerned about me. "Well... we were attacked by... a vengeful ghost... And I fought it with the Camera Obscura... and we defeated it... and... I was so scared that... I fainted..." I stammered.

"Ghosts? Ghosts don't exist! It might be a person exposed by Dark Water, just like the miners," Eli ignored.

"But Eli, the abandoned inn had an owner before but he killed himself due to his unexpected sickness that drove him mad. His spirit wondered around and haunted the inn," Khai explained.

"Still not buying it. If I really see a real ghost I would believe it," Eli defended.

"What were you two doing at the inn?" Trixie asked.

"We were finding the album, of course," I answered.

"And why?" Kord wondered.

"Will's friend had requested to find the old album that is filled with photos of deceased people," Khai stated.

"So why does he need it?" Roza wondered.

"Felix needs it for his studies," she replied.

"What does he study?" Falcon added a question.

"I don't know," she blurted out.

She then showed the Shane Gang the old album that we had found from the inn. The whole gang became as curious as a cat. We took a look at the photos. There were many photos of deceased people... and these people were preforming some sort of a ritual.

"Looks like they are participating a ritual or something..." Kord blurted out.

"It seems like more than one ritual," Nate added.

"But what kind of ritual?" John was confused.

"I have no idea," Khai said. She turned a page, and there was a photo of a pair of twins: a male twin and a female twin.

"A pair of twins?" Junjie was quick to notice the photo.

"...Yes... I know a ritual about twins..." Khai told us. "The older twin killed his or her younger twin, threw the dead body of a younger twin into an endless bottom of an abyss, and the older twin became one."

"Why will they do that?!" Pronto gasped in horror.

"There are a few reasons why people do rituals. Usually it's because they must keep the evil spirits from the underworld from entering their reality," Khai explained.

"Sounds like a satanic ritual," I commented.

"What's satanic?" she did not understand that word.

"Extremely evil or wicked," Roza speedily answered.

"I see... Anyway, people did that to keep the demons away from their world as they had to seal them away. The demons are not Darkbanes," she added. "If they failed the ritual, being incomplete, the evil spirit and demons would be released."

"And... kill them?" Falcon gasped and swallowed hard.

"Yes. And they covered their whole cavern and the cavern became haunted with vengeful spirits of people who were once alive," she said, which frightened us.

"They are just stories, Khai. Ghosts and demons are not real," Eli blurted out.

When Khai turned another page, there was a photo of a 15 years old young boy in a kimono. "I know that boy: it's Elliott Shani!" Junjie gasped.

"But he looked different than the photo from my camera," Khai stated. "Elliott was... once a normal boy... before the ritual..."

We felt scared after this. She closed the album. "I should make dinner now as night is getting near. I will give Felix the album tomorrow afternoon," she told us.

An hour later, dinner was served. There were vegetables, chicken soup, some seafood, and orange juice. For the slugs, Khai made a new food: Cream Slug Puffs. They look the same as the Slug Puffs, but she had added colourful frosts on top with sprinkles. The meal was enough to brighten us. After dinner, Khai and I said goodbye to our allies and headed to my cavern for a rest.

Once we reached my house, we saw Team JSMN and Megumi outside. "Oh, hello everyone. What're you all out here?" I asked them.

"Wen Jing, we have an unexpected visitor," Megumi said, "and he is looking forward to meet you."

Khai was surprised to hear that. "What is the unexpected visitor's name?" she questioned her.

"His name is... Wen Wing," she answered.

"And he looks pretty much like Wen Jing. But... he is a male version of her," Ja Jung added.

I began to wander about Wen Wing. We all entered the house and there, we saw a young man sitting on the sofa, crossing his legs. The young man looked almost like me but a male version. He had a thick spiky black hair, a pair of brilliant lavender eyes and quite a dark skin. He wore a lavender t-shirt base layer, maroon hoodie jacket over his t-shirt base layer, gray fingerless gloves, black jeans with a gold chain belt and lavender boots. He had a bandolier strapped on his chest, which could carriy 5 slug tubes. He also carried a brilliant lavender backpack which could store 25 slug tubes and a maroon Twin Sparkwing SF Pro with lavender strips strapped on both of his arms. His height was likely between Junjie and I. He carried a lavender sword blade that was strapped behind his back.

I was stunned to see him. This must be Wen Wing. He saw me just entered the house. He smiled, stood up from the sofa, and walked up to me. "Hi. You must be Wen Jing, right?" he asked kindly.

"Y-Yes, I am," I strummed. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"I am Wen Wing. And I am here because I was searching for you and your family as I am your long-lost twin brother," Wen Wing said. His words really shocked me! Wen Wing was my long-lost twin brother!


End file.
